The Bella Files
by DancesWithPenguins
Summary: After a drunken New Year's Eve, Bella finds herself pregnant, but the father isn't who she thinks it is. Edward's surprised to hear that the single worst night of his life may allow for his dreams to come true...assuming she doesn't drive him crazy!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Harder," she demanded. I moved my hips faster, pushing them into hers with more force, hoping it was what she wanted. I got my answer with a moan and a slight tilt of her hips, allowing me to go in deeper.

"Fuck, just like that," she groaned and on the inside, I smiled. I had made her feel that way, I was obviously doing something right, so I kept doing it. Her fingers dug into my shoulders, I could feel the slight sting from her short nails and I was grateful that she didn't have talons like Rose. Those suckers would hurt.

"I'm so close," she moaned and I returned my thoughts to the woman below me. All my effort became focused on her, on making her reach that pinnacle, to make her know that I had been the one to give her that pleasure.

I could feel her tightening around me and it was just enough to push me over the edge, though I had had no clue I was even close to falling. I continued to move inside her, even as my body relaxed in post-coital bliss, anxious to help her achieve that glorious end. With a loud gasp, she did, though what left her mouth after that gasp killed any sort of bliss that I had, reminding me that even though I had given my all to her, she was never mine, but his.

"Jake!"

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><p>I had been in love with Isabella Swan for as long as I could remember. Her hair was what my mind pictured when someone mentioned dark silk, her eyes were brown pools of mystery, begging for me to stare deeply into them and discover all her secrets.<p>

Yeah, I was cheesy, but I was in love or what I thought love was. How can someone who has never really been in love, let alone a relationship, truly tell you what it felt like? That's what Alice kept telling me anyway, damn Alice.

"Stop staring at her," Alice whispered at me, poking me in the ribs with her elbow. Damn pointy elbows.

I turned my head to glare at her and found Alice staring hard at me, her eyes narrowed. If I didn't know better, I would swear the girl could read my mind.

"I wasn't staring," I whispered back, though we both knew I was lying. She was sitting in front of us, a couple of rows down in the crowded movie theater. It was the holiday break and it seemed that all of our small town had turned out to the movies that Friday night. People wandered the aisles, greeting those that they hadn't seen since going our separate ways at the end of summer.

"It's like a Forks High reunion here," a deep voice grumbled. My knees were shoved to the side and my charming brother entered the row, tossing a box onto my lap. The requested box of Raisinets hit me square in the crotch, causing me to groan.

"Stop staring at Bella and getting a semi, then it won't hurt when they fall on your lap," Emmett told me as he settled into the seat next to me.

"Christ Em," I hissed, looking around to see who heard him. I had never vocalized my crush on Bella, in fact, I was pretty sure she was clueless about it and I didn't want Emmett announcing it to the entire theater as the way she found out for certain.

"Whatever Edward," Em's girlfriend Rosalie said, leaning forward and looking around Emmett's bulk to glare at me. "Besides, she's back together with Jake. Didn't you hear the two of them going at it on New Year's Eve? She screamed out his name!"

I was glad at that moment the lights started to dim so no one would see my blush. I hadn't told anyone what had happened on New Year's Eve and Rosalie was the last person I wanted to know of my humiliation. I hadn't even told Alice yet and I told her everything.

I barely paid attention to the previews and once the movie started, the theater was illuminated thanks to the beach scene and I could see her once again. New Year's Eve, the best and worst night of my life, I thought as I stared at the back of her head. She wasn't with Jake, fortunately, but surrounded by friends from high school, friends that didn't run in the same circles that I did. I wouldn't have even been at that party if it hadn't been for Em dragging me along. He had been the Big Man on Campus when we were in high school, I was merely his geeky twin brother. While he was captaining the football and debate teams, I had been the one filming him, capturing everything with the A/V club. Alice and Jasper had been my partners in crime, the three of us filming and reporting on the ins and outs of Forks High School. We skirted the fringes of the popular crowd and even now that our graduating class had gone its separate ways for life after high school, we still fell into our high school roles when home for holidays and summer breaks from college. The town was too small to reinvent yourself, even if that was exactly what you had done when starting college.

I had gone to college as far away from home as I could possibly get, Dartmouth, while Emmett decided to stay reasonably local with UDub in Seattle. Alice wasn't too far from me, a few hours drive at Cornell and Jasper was at West Point. He didn't make it home as often as Alice and I would have liked, but we did get to see him more frequently than we would have if we weren't going to school near by.

Bella was at UDub as well, rooming with Rosalie and that meant Em saw her and he would occasionally pass me little bits of information about her. He knew of my crush and while he wasn't in favor of the worshipping from afar approach I had taken over the years, he would throw me a bone once in a while. Rosalie thought I was creepy but hadn't outted me to Bella as far I knew. Somehow, I was sure I had Em to thank for that as well.

I watched Bella more than the movie, studying the way she moved her head as she turned to see what Angela or Jessica were saying. The light of the screen would highlight her profile and I could stare at her small nose, her delicate cheekbones, her plump lips-.

"Fuck, that hurt!" I whispered, turning to glare at Alice and that pointy elbow of hers again.

"Stop staring Pervward," she whispered back. "I thought you were getting over her, moving on with Tanya."

I nodded, recalling the girl that I had dated a couple of times at school. Tanya was sweet, not bad to look at and for some reason, seemed completely enamored of me. She was my lab partner's roommate and we had met during a study session at their room. We hit it off and before I knew it, I was taking her to a party. I hadn't asked her out, she had done all the asking, but she wasn't Bella, that was for sure.

The movie came to an end and while Em and Rosalie argued about the ending, I watched Bella and her friends exit the theater.

"Cheer up Charlie," Alice said with a grin. "Let's go get some pizza, I bet Bella will be there." She laced her arm through mine and started the pull me from my seat and out into the dark night. The pizza place was within walking distance of the theater and she rambled on and on about the computer her parents had given her for Christmas, begging me to come over the next day and look at it.

"Fine, if it'll shut you up for 5 minutes, then yes, I will Alice," I said with a grin.

"What? Kiss her?" Emmett chose that moment to push his way into our conversation and did so loud enough that several of the surrounding tables in the place heard him. Bella's included.

Alice's nose scrunched up in distaste and she threw a balled up napkin at Emmett in response. "Ew, no! Kissing Edward would be like kissing my own brother or worse, you!"

Emmett smiled, catching the projectile in the air and throwing it over his shoulder. "You know you want me Shorty, how could you resist?" His eyebrows waggled as he spoke and made Alice laugh.

"You are taken, remember Em? Besides, you kissed me when we were 5 and it was gross then, and would be even grosser now!" Alice reminded him.

"You couldn't handle me, admit it," Emmett teased, his chest puffing up in arrogance. I loved my brother, don't get me wrong, but he could be a first class ass.

"You are so right Em, you are just too, too virile for me," Alice declared, channeling her inner Southern Belle.

Emmett snickered and his chest deflated. He reached over and gave Alice a rub on the head, messing up her hair and earning his own visit from her pointy elbow. Rosalie watched the interaction between the two, an almost bored look on her face. She was used to the antics between Alice and Em by now, though she had been annoyed by it when they had first started dating. Even though Alice was my best friend, she was loved by Emmett as well, even if he tended to show it through more juvenile means.

The banter continued until Rose sat up and grabbed Em's arm, making sure she had his attention. She silently pointed toward the table I had been doing my best to not look at and since she was calling attention to it, I had to look too, right?

Bella was talking with Jake and it didn't look like it was going well at all. Bella looked confused, Jake looked angry and Rosalie looked like she wanted to run across the room and break it up. She turned to look at Emmett, to make sure he was watching and when Jake grabbed Bella's arm, Em stood and walked over to his girlfriend's roommate's table. We couldn't hear what was going on, but Jake dropped Bella's arm and angrily stormed out of the restaurant. Bella's friends moved in, quick to help comfort their friend and Rose left our table, anxious to get to Bella as well.

"What happened?" I asked Em once he came back and sat down again.

"Jake was calling Bella a liar and Bella was arguing that she wasn't. I didn't hear anything else besides that," Em explained before shoving his face full of pizza.

I took a long drink of my soda, watching Bella from the corner of my eye. She was led out of the restaurant, Angela and Jessica flanking her on either side. She looked upset and when Rose came back to sit with us once again, she started talking before I could question her.

"Em, could you drop me at Bella's tonight? She needs her friends right now," Rosalie asked.

Emmett nodded, pushed the remaining half of a slice of pizza into his mouth and wiped his hands with a paper napkin. He swallowed hard and gave Rose a soft smile. "Of course. Ed, you got this?"

I nodded and sent him a silent message, letting him know that I needed more details when he got home. He sighed, rolled his eyes and helped Rose from the booth. They called out their goodbyes, leaving Alice and I alone at the table with most of a jumbo pizza between us.

"What are we going to do with that?" Alice asked, pointing to the pizza.

"I'll take it home. Em will eat it, don't worry about that," I told her. I watched as Alice got the attention of the waitress, and after a few minutes, we were headed out of the door ourselves, each carrying half of the remaining pizza.

We walked to my car, tossed the pizza in the back seat and once we were headed toward home, Alice turned and looked at me. She didn't say anything for a long time and her gaze was starting to make me nervous. Finally, I blurted it out, unable to stand the glare any longer.

"I slept with Bella Swan on New Year's Eve," I said quickly.

"Well, that wasn't what I was expecting," Alice said slowly. "I need more details. Spit it out Cullen." I sighed deeply and launched into the story.

"Em took me to Mike Newton's party, right? Well, you know how those parties can be," I started and Alice motioned with her hand for me to get on with it.

"Yeah, yeah, get to the good stuff already," she prompted.

"So, Bella got really drunk, cornered me, then took me upstairs to one of the bedrooms and we did it," I summarized.

"Oookay," Alice replied. I glanced away from the road and looked at her. She was staring out of the windshield and I could tell she was deep in thought. "What happened? You're obviously not shouting it from the rooftops and Bella isn't avoiding you, so?"

"She thought I was Jake," I muttered.

"What? Couldn't hear you," Alice said.

"I said, she thought I was Jake," I repeated, barely raising my voice.

"But you two are nothing alike!" Alice declared.

"And yet, it was his name she cried out at the end," I confessed.

"Holy-," Alice started and I held up a hand, cutting her off.

"You aren't telling anyone, even Jasper, got me?" I asked.

"But Ed-," Alice started again and again I stopped her.

"No one Alice, promise me," I said seriously. "I would prefer that no one know of my humiliation."

Alice silently nodded, then placed a hand on my shoulder and rubbed. "Does she know differently?" I shook my head. "Okay, well, uhm, wow," Alice laughed nervously. Seriously though, what do you say in response to that? I would have reacted the same way had Alice told me a similar story. Not that she would, she was with Jasper, had been since the second day of high school, but still, you get my point.

I pulled up outside Alice's house and cut the engine. I stared at the steering wheel and listened as Alice gathered her things. She placed a kiss on the top of my head, then she was gone without saying a word. It might have been the longest amount of time I had heard her quiet, when she wasn't asleep.

I headed home, and when I pulled in, I saw Em's Jeep already parked by the garage. I pulled the leftover pizza from the back and walked through the kitchen door to find Em and our mother standing at the counter, talking quietly. Once they saw me, they stopped quickly and I wondered if I had been their topic of conversation. I tossed the pizza boxes onto the counter in front of Em and sighed.

"I'm going to bed," I announced. I walked out of the room and headed upstairs to my bedroom. Footsteps followed me and I turned once I reached the staircase to find my mother had followed me. "Mom, I'm fine," I said quickly before she could say anything.

She reached out and brushed some hair off my forehead, smiling at something in her head. "How was the movie?"

I shrugged, unable to even come up with a convincing lie, seeing as how I watched Bella Swan instead of the movie. Best 10 bucks ever, in my opinion, but Mom didn't need to know that.

"Mom, I really am tired," I said, attempting once again to hide in my room.

"Okay sweetheart, I'm here if you need to talk, you know that right?" She smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back. I nodded, gave her a hug, then continued my trek to the second floor and my sanctuary.

Once inside, I kicked off my shoes and jacket, then fell face first onto my bed. I groaned into my pillow, my head full of jumbled thoughts. I knew I would never be able to sleep, so I sat up and walked to my laptop, which was set up on my old desk. I powered it on, pulled up a Word document and began to type. The Bella files were born.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I forgot all of this last time...Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer, I am just playing with her creations a little bit, no harm, no foul!**

**I'm hoping to update this every Friday, but it may be more frequently, it all depends on how things are going in real life since my hubs and kids insist on things like clean clothing and hot meals...*wink***

**Hope you are still enjoying this and things will be come more difficult very very soon!**

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><p><span>Chapter 2<span>

I continued the files once I returned to school, using that time to primarily document my past with Bella, such as it was. I didn't write every day, whenever I got the chance. I hoped that by getting it down on paper and out of my head, I could be more objective, maybe even move on.

I took Tanya out on a couple of dates the beginning of the spring semester and our relationship slowly started to grow. It was different than anything else I had ever experienced, and seeing as how I hadn't experienced much up to that point, that wasn't difficult to achieve. We moved slow, I had no desire to rush things, especially since Tanya had no clue about Bella and how I was working on purging myself of her. There were times I felt like I was cheating on Bella with Tanya, but that was stupid. You have to have a real relationship to cheat on someone. If anything, it was the other way around, but I was working on it.

I planned to stay on campus for Spring Break, crank out a couple of papers while the dorms were quiet, but Emmett had other plans.

"Come stay at U Dub with me for Spring Break," he begged. Emmett didn't beg for attention, he didn't need to, so I wondered what his actual reason for dragging me to his college was about.

"I really need to work on these papers," I argued weakly.

"Ed, man, that is no way to spend Spring Break. Come to Seattle, I'll introduce you around, the girls here don't know you, Sir Dork-A-Lot," Emmett teased. "Maybe you'll get laid."

I rolled my eyes, wishing Emmett was there to at least see my expression. "I have a girl here, remember?"

"Yeah? When did you two make it official?" Emmett knew about Tanya from Mom, I certainly hadn't told him, but he always asked about her in his emails to me.

"Uh, well," I hesitated and Emmett laughed.

"No commitment means Eddie can come and play. Come on, don't make me pull out the big guns."

"Fine Em, I'll come and visit U Dub, but you are playing for my flight," I agreed reluctantly.

"Awesome!" Emmett yelled. "You and I are gonna have a blast bro! And I didn't even have to tell you that Bella is single to make it happen."

"I am over Bella, I've told you that," I reminded him.

"Uh huh, sure Eddie, sure. We'll see," Em said in a voice that told me he didn't believe me.

"I'll book my flight and you pay me back, got it?" I told him and once he agreed, I hung up. I closed my eyes and shook my head, wondering what I was getting myself into agreeing to spend a week with Emmett at the University of Washington.

The next couple of weeks flew by between classes and trying to get the papers done I had originally planned to work on over the break. Tanya and I saw each other for coffee or for study dates, but that was about it. I was even neglecting the Bella files, too caught up in something other than her for a change. Before I knew it, Tanya was dropping me off at the airport, giving me a soft kiss goodbye and waving to me as I walked through security on my way to Seattle. She hadn't kissed me up to that point and it had felt nice. Nothing like the kisses Bella and I had exchanged on New Year's Eve, but then again, I hadn't expected that. That had been all drunken passion, while this was nice, something to build upon.

Emmett met me at the airport, grabbing my bag and leading the way to the waiting car. I climbed in the back, saying hello to Rosalie, who was perched in the driver's seat and the three of us headed toward campus. Em and I discussed my flight, then the car grew silent and the silence was awkward.

"Edward, look, you need to stay away from Bella this week," Rosalie started.

I looked at her in the rear view mirror and shook my head in surprise. "You make it sound like I'm going to assault her or something the moment I get there."

"She's just got a lot going on right now and she doesn't need to have to fend you off, okay?" Rose snapped.

"Fine Rose, whatever," I grumbled, not really knowing why she was warning me. I knew she had to know about Tanya. If Emmett knew, he would have told Rose. "Tanya kissed me when she dropped me off," I blurted out, wanting to get the conversation off Bella and remind Rose that I had moved on.

Em turned around and grinned at me, holding out his fist for me to bump. "Was there tongue?" Emmett asked and I rolled my eyes in disgust.

"No comment," I replied, causing Em to laugh again.

"You totally should have been a girl Eddie," Emmett announced, not for the first time. Just because I wasn't testosterone city like he was, he had been saying all our lives that the doctor got it wrong and I should have been named Edwina.

Em peppered me with questions about Tanya for the rest of the drive to campus and once we reached his dorm, Rose left us to go to her own, promising to come over later. We walked up to the room Emmett shared with two other guys and with manly head nods of greeting, I was brought into the fold. Emmett shoved a beer in my hand, tossed my bag in a corner and flopped down on a bean bag chair to watch his roommates battle head to head in a video game. I sat down on the corner of his bed and watched the action.

"So, Ed, you go to school out East?" One of the guys asked, not looking away from the screen.

"Yeah, Dartmouth, in New Hampshire," I clarified when I saw a look of confusion cross his face.

"Why would you go all the way out there? Got a thing for uptight pussy?" The other one asked with a laugh.

I choked on the mouthful of beer I had and all three guys started laughing at me. "Easy there tiger, don't want to have to call Mom and tell her I broke you on the first day," Em said with a smirk.

I flipped him off, took a deep breath and shook my head to clear it from the coughing fit.

"Ed's got a thing for being his own person," Emmett explained. "It's tough being my twin ya know."

"Yeah, I would move half way around the world if he was my brother too," the first guy said, earning him a punch on the shoulder from Emmett. "But seriously, how is the pussy man?"

I shrugged and thought about how to answer that. I couldn't tell them that I had yet to sample the wares of the East Coast girls so I decided to be non-committal.

"They are bundled up all the time, kinda hard to admire for 9 months of the year," I told them.

The second guy nodded. "I told you guys, but once the sun comes out, so do the bikinis," he said with a laugh. He saw my blank look and explained further. "I'm from Vermont and yeah, the winter parkas are hell on girl watching, not that Seattle is much better, but I got a scholarship here."

We continued to talk for a while and I slowly relaxed around Em's roommates. The guy from Vermont was named Jerry, while the other guy was Tom, making Emmett snicker about living with cartoon characters once he was buzzing some. Pizza was ordered and before I knew it, they were shoving me out the door, declaring we needed to make an appearance at a party off campus. We joked and laughed as we walked from the dorms to the house right on the edge of campus where the party was being held. Em told me it was one of the football houses, which all three of them were on the team, and it wasn't really a party, seeing as how they technically had class the next day. Once we were in the house and a red cup of warm beer was pressed into my hand, Em ran off to find Rose, Tom and Jerry disappeared, which left me to wander. I really didn't know anyone and for the most part, no one came over to introduce themselves. I wasn't the kind for social situations, that was definitely Em but I liked to people watch and I got plenty of that at this party.

"I don't know you," I heard a voice say behind me. "But your hair is fucking awesome." I turned and found a small blonde girl staring at me, her head tilted to the side. Once she saw she had my attention, she moved forward and practically had me pinned against the wall. She looked me up and down and a feeling like I was being sized up for dinner ran through my mind. "I'm Jane, and you are related to Emmett Cullen, right?"

I nodded, wondering how she could know this. Em and I were twins, but only because we shared a birthday and really nothing else. We looked nothing alike, though Mom swore we had the same eyes, just different colors. Em was body builder large, thanks to football and blond, like our father, while I was lankier, again thanks to Dad, but had crazy brown hair with weird red pieces that I got from Mom. Jane continued to study me before closing the small distance that had remained between us and pulling my head down so my ear was level with her mouth.

"Wanna get out of here and you can show me if any part of you is the same as your brother?" She whispered, her tongue darting out of her mouth to lick my earlobe. It felt wet and weird, and all kinds of wrong. Before I could figure out a way to turn her down, I was saved by a familiar voice.

"Edward? Emmett's looking for you and sent me to find you," it said and I looked up to see Bella standing there, staring at Jane and I. Jane turned and glared at Bella, the hatred clear on her face. I managed to extract myself from Jane while she was distracted and quickly walked over to Bella's side. She gave me a small smile and kissed my cheek once I was next to her. I tried not to let my surprise show and when she wrapped her arm around my waist and led me away from a still glaring Jane, I decided to forget thinking and just enjoy the moment. Once we were out of Jane's sight though, Bella's arm dropped and I felt cooler than I had moments before.

"Sorry about that. Jane is a bitch and Em's stalker on campus. The only thing that scares her is Rosalie and by association, me," Bella explained. She took a drink from her red cup, grimaced and then gave me a grin. "Welcome to U Dub," she said once we reached Emmett and Rosalie.

"Oh good, you saved him," Rosalie said when she saw Bella and I approach.

"Yeah, it was close, she was all over him," Bella explained, which made Emmett shiver in response.

"She's weird, try to avoid her all week bro, if possible. She does live in the same dorm, so be on the lookout. I wouldn't put it past her to get all Fatal Attraction and shit, ya know?"

I shook my head and pointed my cup at Emmett. "I thought she had a thing for you, I should be fine."

Rosalie wrapped her arm through Emmett's and got a cold look on her face. "She knows better than to come anywhere near Emmett, but you, not so much. Just be careful, okay?"

I wondered at Rose's concern and mentally shrugged at it before answering. "Yeah, okay," I told them, earning me a hard slap on the back from my brother.

"How about we get out of here and head back to the dorms?" Emmett suggested. Rose agreed and grabbed Bella, leading her off, their heads bent together, talking low enough that they couldn't be overheard.

Emmett and I followed and I glanced around, looking for Tom and Jerry. I voiced this to Em and he shrugged and drained the beer remaining in his red cup. "They're big boys, they'll find a way back if they choose to."

We followed behind Rose and Bella be a couple of steps and they talked quietly between the two of them the entire way. There was tension between them, easy for me to pick up on and I poked Em in the ribs and nodded toward them.

"Are they okay?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah, just goes back to Rose's warning in the car, okay?" Emmett said and I nodded. Right, Rose's warning to leave Bella alone this week. Not a problem, I could do that, I had been doing that for years now. I could manage another week, right?

We reached the girls' dorm and while Rose and Emmett said a passionate goodbye, I did my best not to watch. I happened to see Bella doing the same and I gave her a small smile, which she hesitantly returned.

"They are always like that," she explained. "It's worse when you come back from class and can't get into your room because you are afraid you'll see Em's naked ass." Her voice rose as she spoke until Emmett and Rosalie could hear the end part very clearly. Emmett tore is mouth from Rose's and looked over at Bella.

"One time Swan, and it's not my fault you don't know the universal code for your roommate is getting some," Emmett defended himself.

"Universal code?" I questioned.

"Yeah, a sock on the doorknob, everyone knows that," Em said like I was dumb. I hadn't known that and I turned to Bella and shrugged.

"Yeah, no clue here either," I said, earning me a full smile in response. "But I have a single, so no roommates to worry about actually."

"And no action to warrant a sock-covered knob to begin with," Emmett snorted in laughter. "Get it, knob, in a sock," he laughed.

"Yeah, you're a riot Em," I said sarcastically.

"Well, we better get in," Bella said, breaking up the party. Rosalie nodded and with a quick kiss to Em, they turned and headed into the dorm.

"Good to see you again Bella," I called out, then mentally kicked myself.

Bella looked over her shoulder at me and nodded. "Yeah, you too Edward." Then she was gone.

"Damn boy, if looks could kill, Bella would be smoking from all that heat," Emmett declared, pushing against me.

"Shut it Em," I told him and surprisingly enough, he did. We made it back to his dorm, got me settled on the couch that the guys had procured from the lounge for my stay and fell asleep rather quickly. I woke the next morning to Emmett singing along to Barry Manilow as he got ready for class. It was nice to see something hadn't changed. I saw that Jerry had returned at some point in the night, but Tom was still MIA.

"What time is it, Lola?" I asked, pushing my hair out of my face.

Emmett paused in his singing about a little club in Havana and turned to look at me. "Almost 8. I have an early Bio lecture, then I'll be back and we can grab breakfast at the caf downstairs before I have to head to the lab for a little while, but you can tag along if you want."

I nodded and let my head fall back onto the pillow. Emmett returned to singing, getting to his favorite part about the shooting but I managed to tune him out. I must have fallen back to sleep because next thing I knew, Em was sitting on my chest and I was gasping for air. Emmett laughed, got off me and took the blanket with him.

"Rise and shine butterbean," he declared. "Rosie is meeting us downstairs in 10, so shake a leg."

I pulled on some clothes, ran my hands through my hair and followed a whistling Em downstairs to the cafeteria that was housed in the basement of his building. We found Rose, then gathered food and looked around for a table.

"Make sure there are four," Rose told us. "Bella will be here once her Lit class lets out."

Emmett nodded and found a table for four. We were barely into our food when Bella ran in, collapsing at the table in a huff. Emmett tossed a muffin at her, which Bella grabbed in mid-air and immediately shoved into her mouth. She must have seen my surprise at the move because once her mouth was empty, she started to explain.

"I have 10 minutes, then I have to haul ass to my Brit lit class which is on the other side of campus, so Em feeds me on Fridays," she told me.

"Why not pick a cafeteria closer to your class?" I asked.

All three of them looked at me in surprise, then Emmett spoke up. "He's not from here, he's not schooled in the cafeteria hierarchy yet."

Rose and Bella nodded and Emmett proceeded to explain. "There are three cafeterias on campus, this one, Pioneer Hall over near the gym, and Grady Dining by Bella's next class. Pioneer and Grady are staffed by the culinary students, while our slice of heaven here is catered. Those who actually live here and in the girls', well, we get first dibs on it. It's not open to the rest of campus usually, it's too small, but it has the best food of the three."

I nodded, sort of getting the logic. Dartmouth only had one cafeteria for the campus so I didn't really understand, but the food was good and I didn't have to go here, so whatever worked for them.

Bella glanced at her watch, cursed silently, then sighed. "Okay, off to class again." She stood and gave us a wave, then walked out of the cafeteria.

"She looks tired," Em remarked.

"She's always tired," Rose responded, giving me a quick glance.

"Is Bella okay?" I asked, concern for her immediately filling me.

Rose nodded and started to pick at the napkin in her hands. "Yeah, she's fine. Just carrying a huge course load and has to run from class to class."

I nodded, letting her know I understood and wouldn't ask anything else, but I wasn't satisfied with Rose's answer. Something was off with Bella and I had watched her enough over the years to pick up on it. She was usually happier, like a bubble of happiness would surround her and since I had been here, that bubble was missing.

"So, wanna come and watch me play with my rats?" Emmett asked once we were done.

"Sure, why not?" I replied and we headed to Emmett's lab, dropping Rose off at her Psych class. Emmett was majoring in Physiology, with plans to become a sports trainer after college. His rats were part of a bio experiment that he was conducting with a couple other people and his professor. Apparently, Friday was his day to observe and clean the cages.

"Ed, let me introduce you to Ken and Barbie," Emmett said, pointing to the white rats that were in the cages in front of us.

"Original names," I remarked. "You?"

Emmett nodded and I shook my head. It didn't surprise me at all. Em started to go about his routine while in the lab and I sat back and watched. He didn't say much to me while he worked at first, keeping all of his comments for the rats, but then, he started talking to me and I was surprised.

"Bella's pregnant Ed," Emmett announced, not looking at me, but focused on wiping down the outside of the glass cage.

I felt my eyes widen and my mouth drop open in shock. "What?"

Emmett glanced over his shoulder at me, then returned to his task. "Yeah, apparently it happened on New Year's Eve. Bella's kind of freaking out, because she was sure it was Jake, I mean, who else could it be, but Jake swears that he didn't go anywhere near her that night. You watch her all the time, who did you see her with at the party?"

Em turned and leaned against the counter, all of his attention focused on me. I tried my best to not let him see my panic because unlike Emmett, I knew who the father was, I didn't need Maury Povitch pulling out an envelope and announcing it to the world.

"She doesn't remember anything?" I asked, purposefully not answering Em's question.

"She was trashed, I mean seriously trashed that night. She had broken up with Jake and apparently decided to hook up with someone. Just tell me it's not Newton, though I love the idea of punching him in the gut for taking advantage of her while she was drunk and all."

"You'd love any excuse to punch Mike," I said off-handedly. Em nodded, then sighed.

"There is no love lost between Fig Newton and I, that is for sure," Em said. "Come on bro, you have to know who she was with."

I shook my head, hoping that Em would believe me. "No clue, I saw her with Angela and Jessica, then she disappeared."

Emmett nodded slowly, staring at me the entire time. "Okay, well, if you can think of anyone, let me know. Just don't tell Rose or Bella that I told you. Rose'll have my balls."

Emmett went back to his rats and I pulled my phone from my pocket, pulling up Alice's phone number and sending her a text to call me as soon as possible.

She didn't call me back until Em was in the shower, which gave me time to talk to her without fear of him listening in.

"Alice, fuck, I really fucked up," I said frantically when I heard her voice on the other end.

"Edward, calm down and tell me what's going on? What did you do, kill someone?" She giggled at the thought.

"No, I got someone pregnant," I blurted out. That shut her up.

"What? I thought you and Tanya were taking it slow," Alice said.

"We are," I replied and let her work it out for herself. When she gasped, I knew she got it.

"No way! You didn't use a condom?" Alice shrieked.

"I, I thought I had, I was a little drunk myself you know," I said defensively.

"You either know or you don't, idiot," Alice said.

"Well, obviously, that is a moot point right now, Alice," I said with a huff.

"Yeah, yeah, true. So, what are you two going to do?" Alice asked.

My hand covered my eyes and I rubbed them hard, making all sorts of colored lights appear in my vision. "I don't know what she is planning, fuck, she doesn't even know it's me," I said.

"What?" Alice screeched. "What the fuck Edward? You need to man up and-," she yelled before I cut her off.

"I plan to, I just need to figure out how, without her hating me," I said.

"Oh, I think the hating goes without saying Eddie," Alice said simply. I knew she was right. Bella was going to hate me for taking advantage of her when she was drunk. Fuck, Em was going to kill me, if Rose didn't do it first. And don't even get me started on Chief Swan.

"Yeah," I agreed glumly. We both grew silent for a moment, then Alice started talking again.

"Let me know how it goes okay?" Alice said in a sympathetic voice.

"'Course," I assured her. Emmett walked back into the room at that point, so I ended my call quickly.

"Was that Shorty?" Emmett asked. "Why didn't you bring her along?"

"We go to different schools Em, different spring breaks," I reminded him.

"Oh yeah, right. Any ideas man? It would really help if Bella knew who it was, at least had a name, you know? Though when I get hold of him, he's never gonna be able to stick his dick outside of his pants to piss, let alone knock up another girl." Emmett was angry and I swallowed hard. I decided it was time to man up.

"Actually, I am pretty sure I know who the father is," I told him. My heart was pounding, my palms were sweating and I felt like I was going to pass out.

"Yeah? Fuck, that's great! Who is it?" Em said quickly.

"Me," I said, then everything went black.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okay the usual, not mine, just have them out to play. No offense intended. Now, on with the show!**

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><p><span>Chapter 3<span>

I came to with a hard slap on my cheek. My eyes opened and my brother was standing over me, conflicting looks of concern and anger flitting back and forth on his face. Once he saw I was awake, he backed up and walked across the room. He leaned against the wall and just looked at me for a long time. I sat up, rubbed my face with my hands and leaned forward, resting my arms on my knees. I stared at the floor and didn't say anything until Em started.

"It was really you," he said softly. I could hear the surprise and astonishment in his voice. I glanced up to look at him and his face bore the same emotions that I had heard in his voice.

"Yeah," I nodded, confirming it.

"Jesus Ed, why? Never mind the why, I get the why I guess, but why?" Emmett asked.

I laughed, though it wasn't an amused one, more of a frustrated laugh I supposed. "Put yourself in my shoes Em, just for a minute. There she was, the girl of my dreams, and she wanted me. She came on to me and-." Emmett cut me off.

"She was loaded, even you told me that earlier. You know you don't take advantage of a drunk girl man," Emmett barked out.

I nodded, he was right, but at the time... "I know, I know, but she didn't seem drunk at the time, it wasn't until after that I knew for sure, and I was pretty drunk myself."

"So drunk you forgot a condom," Emmett stated. I nodded and returned my gaze to the floor. "Why didn't you say anything to her, at least apologize or something? Fuck man, she's been going crazy for months trying to figure out who the mystery man at the party was. That fight at the pizza joint after the movie? Yeah, that was her finding out that it hadn't been Jake like she was sure it had been."

"How would I have known that Em? No one talks to me, except to tease me about my crush. How in the hell was I supposed to know that?" I was getting angry. Granted, I was to blame, well, half to blame for this situation, but I was over 3000 miles away, I didn't live with the constant drama that apparently this situation had evolved into.

Em looked properly chastised, but then focused on me once again. "Edward, you fucked up big time."

I stood up and started pacing, the anger in me building. "No shit Em, I know that, okay? What in the fuck was I supposed to do? Walk up to her and say, 'Look Bella, I'm sorry but we were both loaded and we had sex and then you called out Jake's name at the end and I felt like shit that you couldn't even remember who you were with?' Should I have done that?" By the time I was done, I was yelling at him.

Emmett stared and I knew he didn't have an answer for me. Shit, I didn't have an answer for me and I had been there.

"You need to talk to her," Emmett told me.

"Yeah, I know that," I said.

"You need to do it soon because she needs to tell her father and she's been putting it off until she could figure out what happened that night," Em informed me.

Fuck, Chief Swan was going to know. I didn't stand a chance. I'd be lucky if I wasn't brought up on charges of rape, it wasn't too far a stretch.

"Em, what am I gonna do?" I sighed, collapsing back onto the couch where I had been sitting before. Emmett walked over and sat next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

"Start with Bella and go from there. You two need to be on the same page before you pull anyone else into it," he said wisely. "I'd recommend a trip to Forks while you are on the same coast too. Might make it easier on the parents if you present a united front, assuming that is what Bella wants to do."

I nodded and Em patted me on the back. He stood and headed to the door. When I didn't follow, he stopped and turned around, looking at me. "Well, let's go then. I'll distract Rosie and you and Bella can talk, okay?"

I nodded, rose from the couch and followed my brother out of his room and over to where the mother of my child lived. Em knocked and whispered something in Rose's ear when she answered. She glared at me, grabbed her jacket and called out to Bella that she would be back soon. She held the door open for me and as I went to walk into the room, her hand on my arm stopped me cold.

"Break her and I break you, I don't care if you are Em's brother or not, understand?" Rosalie informed me.

I nodded and then, they were gone. I slowly walked into the room, letting the door close quietly behind me and stared at Bella. She was on her bed, sitting with her legs crossed in front of her, pen in her mouth and surrounded by text books. She had changed since I saw her earlier, now wearing a clingy tank top and pajama pants. Her hair was pulled back from her face twisted around what looked like another pen and I could see the tell-tale white wires hanging down letting me know she was listening to her iPod. I guess my staring must have alerted her to me because suddenly she looked up and jumped in shock. She pulled the ear buds down quickly and held her hand to her heart, as if to keep in in place in her chest.

"Jesus Edward, you scared me! Did Rose say you were here?" She asked and I shook my head. "Well, why are you here then?"

"Can I sit down?" I nodded toward the other bed in the room and Bella nodded, watching me walk over to Rose's bed and sink down on the edge.

"What is going on Edward?" Bella asked hesitantly.

"Em told me about, uhm, about New Year's," I said, stumbling over my words. I watched as Bella's face darkened and the pen that she had been holding was flung down on her bed in anger.

"He had no right," she argued.

"I agree, but he thought I might be able to help, since I was there that night and I, uh, well," I hesitated to admit that I watched her, that I had always watched her, ever since I first saw her in middle school.

She nodded, knowing what I didn't want to say. "Yeah, right. So?" She looked sort of hopeful and I knew that it was going to be short-lived.

"I know who it was Bella," I started. Her face quickly lit up and then when I said my next part, the light was just as quickly gone. "It was me."

Bella's mouth fell open, then she closed it without saying anything. She repeated this a few times before I decided to fill the silence with my part of the story.

"We were drunk and I really liked you, I always had and there was my chance and well-," I spouted out until Bella's hand covered my mouth. I stopped talking and she withdrew it, only for it to once again come to rest on my face, this time in the form of a stinging slap.

"You are the lowest of the low Edward Cullen, oh my god," she shrieked. "How could you do that? I thought you were better than that, that you were actually a nice guy, but nice guys don't do shit like that."

She moved away from me and walked back over to her bed, flinging her books to the floor in anger and falling onto her stomach, her face buried in her pillow.

"Bella, look, I am so-," I started and she rolled her head to look at me, fury and hurt in her brown eyes.

"Get the fuck out! NOW!" she screamed and I stared at her for a moment, then rose from the bed and walked out of the room. It was the hardest thing I had ever done, leaving her crying like that, but she didn't want me around and the last thing I wanted to do was to force myself on her again.

I wandered campus, finally finding a bench in a quiet corner to sit and think. The cat was out of the bag now and while I felt slightly freer, knowing that Bella now knew the truth about what had happened on New Year's Eve, a whole new set of problems and concerns entered my head. I was going to be a father, maybe. I mentally did some calculations and determined that Bella was out of her first trimester, making an abortion less likely. Since she was trying to find out the father, I guessed that meant she was at least planning to carry through to the end, though adoption was a possibility. Did I want to give my child up for adoption? I didn't think so, but I was only 20, would it be right to do that to a baby when a more stable family could possibly give it more than I could? And what about Bella? Was she planning to raise the baby alone? Was she hoping that the father would play an active role? She was due in the fall, would she be going back to school? I needed some answers before I could do anything else and unfortunately, I doubted I'd be getting any from Bella in the near future.

My cell phone rang and I pulled it out of my pocket, saw Em's name on the screen and answered, talking before he could.

"Well, I told her and it went just about how I thought it would," I said glumly. "She hates me and I can't say that I blame her."

"She wants to talk to you," Em said quietly. "Where are you?"

"I have no clue, I just kind of started walking. I'm on a bench and there is an fountain nearby," I said, looking around for some sort of landmark.

"Can you find your way back here or do you need me to come and get you?" Emmett asked.

"I think I can find my way," I told him.

"Good, see you soon," Emmett said, then hung up.

I stood up and went back the way I came, only having to ask for directions once. I found myself outside Bella's door and I hesitated to knock, not sure what I would find on the other side. I knew she still hated me, I didn't have any doubts about that, but I hoped we could focus this talk on the baby and its future, because that was most important right now.

I knocked and Em answered, silently holding the door open so I could walk in. Bella was seated on her bed again, but this time Rosalie was with her. Rose had her arm around Bella's back and was talking quietly to her. When Rose saw I was there, the look she gave me would have slayed me had I been concerned about it. I was focused on Bella, she was the reason I was there and she was the one I needed to talk to, forget Rose and Em.

"Edward's here," Rosalie said quietly. Bella's face tilted upward to look at me and I could see it was red and swollen from crying. I had done that to her, I thought in disgust. I made her like this, there was no one else to blame.

Emmett pulled up a desk chair for me and I sat down, still looking at Bella and waiting for her to start. This was her show, I was here to find out my part.

"I'm keeping the baby," she said quietly. "And I'm finishing out the semester here at UDub, but after that, I don't know."

I nodded, not saying anything, not sure what to chime in with truthfully.

"I plan on driving to see my father tomorrow, to tell him," she continued. "I had planned that all along. The question is, do I tell him I know the father or not?"

This was it, the moment of truth. Bella knew the truth, but she was willing to not say anything about it to her father, to keep me anonymous but I couldn't do that.

"You can tell him if you want," I said diplomatically. She knew him better than I did and I left it in her hands, but not before I tossed a question back to her. "And what do I tell my parents?"

Bella shook her head and lowered it to study her hands once again. Rose continued to rub her back, talking so softly that I couldn't hear a word she was saying to Bella. I watched as Bella shook her head repeatedly at what Rose was saying, then looked back at me, resignation on her face.

"So you want to be a part of this?" She asked.

I nodded silently.

"Do you want to come with me to Forks tomorrow? We can tell them all the same day," she stated.

I nodded again.

"Okay, well, Dad is expecting me by lunch time, so we'll leave early, okay?" She asked.

I felt like an ass, but all I could do was nod again.

"Do you want Em and I to go with you two tomorrow, sweetie?" Rosalie asked.

"No, just us," Bella stated firmly. "No need to pull you two into this anymore than necessary. This is our problem now and we need to deal with it."

Emmett walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder. "We'll get going and Ed will be here to get you at 6, okay?"

Bella nodded and Emmett and I walked out of the room. We didn't speak for a long time, both of us unsure what to say. Once we were back at Em's room, I placed a call to my mother, letting her know that I was coming up to see them tomorrow afternoon, which immediately set Mom into panic mode. I assured her that I would explain everything when I saw her the next day and finally gave the phone to Em to deal with her, as I couldn't take it anymore. I loved my mother, but she was tenacious and wouldn't stop until she got the answers she wanted. Em was a lot like her in that way and knew how to talk her down accordingly.

I fell asleep eventually, only to have Emmett wake me what felt like moments later to get a shower before picking up Bella. I showered and shaved, wanting to make a somewhat decent impression on the Chief before he got his gun and shot me for getting his daughter pregnant.

Em gave me the keys to his Jeep and I drove over to Bella's building to find her standing outside, already waiting. She climbed into the passenger seat, buckled up and stared out of the side window, not saying a word to me. I put the vehicle in drive and set off for the ferry, the first part in a long drive home.

Bella left me once the car was loaded onto the ferry, mumbling something about finding some coffee. I eventually found her on the passenger deck, a cup in her hands, staring out at the Puget Sound as we slowly crossed it.

"Is that decaf?" I asked, pointing to her cup.

She rolled her eyes and shrugged. She took a deep drink, watching me watching her do it. I felt myself start to get annoyed, that she might be purposefully doing things to harm our unborn child because she didn't want it. A memory floated back to the front of my mind and I grabbed the coffee from her and glared hard.

"You were drinking at the football house the other night," I said angrily. "Don't you know that you shouldn't be-," I lectured.

Bella sneered, snatched the coffee cup back from me and took another long drink. Once she was done with the cup, she threw it into the trash can next to her, crossed her arms over her chest and started talking.

"For your information, my doctor told me that one cup of coffee a day was fine, as long as it was a small cup. And I was drinking club soda at the football house, which was the only thing there that wasn't beer and it tasted terrible. I didn't want the questions, okay?"

I remembered seeing her grimace when she took a drink from her cup that night, but I chalked it up to the warm beer and nothing else.

"I'm sorry," I apologized quietly.

"You should be. I would never do something like that, understand? I didn't choose to have this baby, but there is no way in hell I am going to do anything to compromise it before it's born. I'll leave the fucking up to when we are raising it." She walked away from me at that point and even though she didn't say it, I knew following her was not a good idea.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Not mine, well, the plot is, but the characters, unfortunately not!**

**Let's see what happens with the parents, shall we?**

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><p><span>Chapter 4<span>

The rest of the ride home was spent in silence and the tension was thick. Once we passed the sign, welcoming us to our hometown, I pulled over at a turnaround used for logging trucks and turned to face Bella.

"So, what are you telling your father? That way I'm not surprised by anything," I explained.

"I'm telling him we made a mistake and are going to be adult and own up to it. Then, we'll go from there," she said.

"What about school? Are you going to stay at your father's?" I asked and Bella shrugged.

"I don't know Edward. All I know is that the baby isn't due until mid September and we have time to figure out the fine tuning. I want to finish out this semester, but the fall is doubtful. I'm just tired and cranky and I really just want to get this over with, okay?"

I nodded, put the car into drive and drove us to Bella's house. When we pulled up, the Chief was standing on the front porch, staring at Em's Jeep with a questioning look on his face.

"Your car okay, Bells?" He called out.

"Fine, Edward just wanted to drive," she explained. I let her go first up the walk, watching as her father pulled her in for a hug, then he turned to me and shook my hand.

"You're the other Cullen boy, right?" He asked.

"Yes sir," I answered.

"Huh, I thought your father said something about you going to school out east," he mused.

I nodded. "Yes sir, in New Hampshire, but I am visiting my brother at U Dub for my Spring Break."

The Chief nodded, then nodded toward the Jeep. "Well, thanks for bringing Bells home. I'll have her call when she's ready to head back."

"Actually Dad, can we talk? All of us?" Bella asked hesitantly.

I watched the Chief look first at Bella, then back at me and his lips tightened into a frown. "Everyone inside," he said and moved aside, letting us walk into the house before him. Bella led the way, walking into a small living room that housed a well-loved couch, a recliner and a LCD television. Apparently, this was the home of a man who loved his sports and the television let all who enter know it. Bella sat on one end of the couch, so I took up the other, leaving the recliner to her father. He sat down and looked back and forth between the two of us for a few minutes. His gaze was intimidating, I could see that if he had been a police officer in somewhere with more crime, he would have been just as successful as he had been in Forks.

"So, let's talk," her father started. He looked first at me, then redirected his attention on Bella. She caved almost immediately.

"Dad, I'm pregnant," she blurted out.

The Chief nodded and still while looking at Bella, tossed a thumb in my direction. "I'm assuming he's the father?"

Bella nodded and a loud sigh filled the room. "What happened to Jake? I thought you two were going to get married, to have kids once you were done school, that's what you've been telling him all along."

I turned my head and looked at Bella, wondering what her father was saying. "I thought you and Jake broke up?"

Bella quickly glanced at me, then down at her hands. "We are, we just talked about taking a break while I was away, since the distance was so great and all."

"So, you planned to get back together?" I asked, trying to make sense of all of this in my head.

Bella bit her lower lip and nodded.

"Well, you can still do that. Have you told Jake yet? Are you sure it's his?" Her father asked, glancing at me again.

"I am positive of that," Bella said with certainty.

"So, what now?" The Chief asked.

Bella looked up from her hands and took a deep breath. "Well, I want to finish out the semester, then move back here?" Her voice rose at the end, making what should have been a statement into a question.

The Chief looked uncomfortable, rubbing his hand along the back of his neck. "Bells, I'm not here a lot of the time and with you being in such a delicate condition," he hesitated and I jumped in to break up the awkwardness.

"It's not a problem. My parents have lots of room and my dad is a doctor. They'll be happy to let Bella stay there," I blurted out.

The Chief looked at me and gave me a relieved smile while Bella looked like she wanted to string me up alive.

"You, we, how can-," she sputtered angrily and I shook my head, hoping that she would stop.

"Have you told your parents yet son?" The Chief asked, turning to focus on me.

"We are headed there next, sir," I explained.

"Call me Charlie, we're apparently gonna get to know one another for the next several years," he offered with a small smile.

I had to admit, the Chief, uhm, Charlie, was taking this better than I had expected. Maybe he was still in shock, or maybe he just wasn't that much of an emotional man, but we had told him, I was still alive, no one had yelled and Bella was coming to live with my parents. Not what I was expecting at all.

"So, what are your plans for the rest of the day because right before you got here, I got called into the station," Charlie explained.

"Oh, I was hoping to have lunch, but go to work," Bella said in a small voice. Charlie jumped up from the recliner, walked over to Bella, giving her a hug, then he turned to me and held out his hand. When I took it, he pulled me close to him and talked low into my ear, so Bella couldn't hear.

"You hurt her and you won't have to worry about anything ever again, understand?" He threatened. I nodded, swallowing hard. Charlie let go of my hand and backed away, leaving the two of us staring after him as he departed. Once the door shut, Bella sank back down onto the couch and buried her face in her hands. From the way her shoulders were shaking, I could tell she was crying. I moved closer, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, only to have it thrown off when Bella shrugged violently.

"Get off of me!" She snapped. I moved back slightly and looked at her. She was glaring at me, angry obviously, though I wasn't exactly sure what I had done to earn it.

She wiped furiously at her eyes, pushing the lingering water off her cheeks and she pushed a fast breathe out of her mouth.

"Let's go to your parents and get this over with. I really just want to get back to school already," Bella told me. She stood and headed out of the living room. I followed and found her standing next to the door, waiting for me. Without saying anything, I walked outside and Bella locked up behind us. Once we were both back in the Jeep, I headed toward home.

The drive didn't take long, but I knew exactly the distance and the time it took, I had done it so many times over the years. On foot, it would take 15 minutes 22 seconds to get from my house to hers. On bike, it was half the time on foot and once I started driving, I had it down to a mere 5 minutes.

"Nice house," Bella remarked when we came to a halt in the driveway. I nodded and quickly moved around the Jeep to help her out, but she was on the muddy ground before I reached her.

"Careful, the drive is an ice rink when it's wet," I warned her, earning me a roll of the eyes. Bella started forward quickly, disregarding my advice and hadn't gone more than 5 steps before she was slipping. It was like the world slowed down, I know that sounds terribly cliché, but that is what I thought as I watched Bella starting to fall. I moved quickly but was unable to prevent her from falling, though I did catch her head before it hit a rock.

"Oh my goodness! Are you two alright?" My mother's voice rang through the air.

"Get Dad Mom," I said urgently. I could hear feet moving on the wooden porch, then Mom's voice calling for my father somewhere in the house.

"Are you okay?" I asked, looking down at Bella. She frowned at me, struggling to move but I had a tight grip on her head, she couldn't go far.

"I'm fine Edward, let me go so I can get up," she grumbled.

"No, you might be injured or worse, the baby," I reminded her. "Wait until my father checks you out, then you can-," I tried to tell her but my mother's loud gasp cut me off.

"Baby? What? Carlisle, grab your bag," Mom called and rushed over to us. She knelt down at Bella's side and looked back and forth between the two of us, silently telling me that I was going to be giving her more information sooner rather than later. She then focused on Bella and her entire demeanor changed. "Bella? I know it's a pain and you probably feel fine, but let Carlisle take a quick look before you get up, okay? Women have lost babies for less than a slip on a muddy driveway."

Bella nodded, as much as she could with me still holding her head and then my father reached us. He looked at me, arched an eyebrow in question, then turned to look at Bella. "Well, well, if it isn't my favorite patient. I've missed our times together in the ER Bella," Dad said with a laugh.

"Me too, Dr Cullen," Bella said with a small smile.

"Well, let's make sure everything is working properly, then we'll get you into the house and some clean dry clothes, okay?" Dad's hands started moving over Bella, tugging and pulling on different parts of her, making sure they were functioning properly. Once he was satisfied, he helped her sit up and I reluctantly let go of her head. Dad pulled her up to stand and then rose himself. Mom, who had been hovering in the background, swooped in and wrapped an arm around Bella's waist and led her into the house, leaving Dad and I outside, watching them go.

"Yours?" Dad asked and I nodded. He sighed, then grabbed his bag and walked over to me. "Plan on doing the right thing?" I nodded again and he seemed satisfied with that. "Okay, go get cleaned up and we'll talk it out after your mother is done fussing over Bella."

He walked into the house at that point, leaving me alone. I shoved my hands into my pockets and walked into the house. I kicked off my shoes, then headed up to my room to grab a shower and change. I could hear Mom and Bella talking from the guest room that sat across the hall from my room, but I didn't stop to listen. I figured whatever they were discussing, I would find out about it sooner or later, if they wanted me to.

I threw off my muddy clothes, then walked into the bathroom that was attached to my room, getting a quick shower. My hands stung and when I looked down, I found them all scratched up. I guessed the rocks had done me in when I was trying to prevent Bella's head from hitting the ground. Once I got out of the shower, I bandaged the scrapes, threw on some clothes I had left at home, then headed down to the kitchen, knowing that is where I would find my parents and Bella.

There they were, Mom was moving around the kitchen, grabbing things as she was cooking while Bella was sitting on one of the stools at the counter and Dad was following Mom's directions. I walked over to the other stool and sat down, making Bella jump.

"Hey, relax, it's just me," I told her. She looked over at me and I could see that she had taken a shower as well. Her dark hair was still damp, making wet patches on the shirt that I was sure was my mother's. "You okay?" I asked, trying to keep my voice low enough that Mom couldn't hear. The woman has super hearing however and before Bella could answer, Mom did so for her.

"She's fine, better now that she's clean," Mom assured me. "So, I didn't know you two knew each other." Mom was about as subtle as a train wreck and I rolled my eyes and sighed.

"Mom," I said in warning.

"Edward," Mom replied, turning to look at Bella and I seated at the counter. Her hands moved to her hips and her eyes moved back and forth between us, assessing and calculating. It was Mom's manner. She never missed much, much to Emmett's displeasure several times as we were growing up.

"We, uhm, well," Bella stuttered, trying to figure out how to explain how we came to be sitting in the kitchen together. This has gone much smoother with her father, I wasn't sure what had changed but now, it was really uncomfortable.

"You're going to be a grandma," I blurted out. Mom glared at me and shook her head.

"I figured that out on my own Edward, but thank you for confirming it," Mom said. She turned to look at Bella, who seemed to have shrunk into herself. Mom turned back to Dad, whispered something, then walked over to Bella. Mom wrapped her arms around her and it was then I realized Bella was crying. I watched as Mom comforted her, rubbing Bella's back and whispering things that I couldn't hear, but seemed to be what Bella needed to hear.

"I think you two should stay the night," Mom declared once she had calmed Bella down.

"No, we really-," Bella started.

"We didn't plan on-," I said at the same time.

"Nonsense," Mom said in a firm voice. "It's only Saturday, no need to rush back. You can leave early in the morning if you must get back to school. For right now, Bella needs to rest more than anything and the guest room will be perfect for that. Let me go get it ready." Mom flew out of the kitchen, leaving Bella and I to stare after her and Dad to finish up lunch. He placed plates in front of us and I blindly started eating, not really taking note of the pasta he gave me.

"Thank you," Bella replied, making me come out of my haze and return to the kitchen.

"Yeah, Dad, thanks," I chimed in. The three of us ate in silence, the only noises coming from the forks hitting the plates. Hurricane Esme blew back in when we were almost finished.

"Okay, everything is set up," she told us. "Bella, you are in the room across the hall from Edward, just in case you need anything tonight."

Bella nodded, placing her fork down on the plate. "Really, it's not a big deal if we go back tonight," Bella tried once more. Mom wasn't having any of it.

"Bella, please, let me take care of you, at least for today. I don't know if I'll get the chance later, but for today, let me pretend that everything is normal and let me spoil my unborn grandchild and its mother, okay?"

Bella nodded, tears forming in her eyes once again and I wondered how much one person could possibly cry. I would think at some point, you would get dried up or something, wouldn't you? Mom led Bella from the room and I looked at Dad in wonder, confusion on my face.

"Is it always like this?" I asked.

Dad laughed and shook his head. "No, not always. In fact, it's pretty much a crap shoot, but it can be one of the best crap shoots ever." I didn't quite know what he meant but I wasn't worried. I guessed I would learn sooner or later.

I gathered the dishes, taking them to the sink to wash up. Dad helped me and after a few quiet moments, I started talking.

"It was a mistake, but I would do it again if the circumstances were the same," I told him quietly.

He nodded, drying a plate with a thoughtful look on his face. "Does she feel the same?"

I shook my head and rested my hands in the soapy water. "Doubtful. She didn't even know it was me until I told her yesterday."

Dad paused and looked at me. "Are you sure it's yours?" There wasn't a trace of judgement in his voice, which didn't surprise me. My father was the type who could picture many different scenarios. I guess it came from being a doctor for so long.

"Positive," I assured him.

"Okay, well, what are your plans?" He asked as he placed the last plate in the cabinet. He dried his hands on the dish towel, then leaned back against the counter and watched me.

"Finish out the semester, we both agree on that," I started.

"You at Dartmouth and Bella here?" He clarified and I nodded. "And then?"

I shrugged. "Obviously Bella won't be going for fall semester since the baby is due right about then."

"And you? Do you plan to be here for the birth? To support her, them?" Dad questioned.

"I want to be, I think," I confessed. "I don't know what she wants though."

"I think you need to figure that out, don't you?" Dad asked.

I nodded. I turned to face him, copying his pose identically and this was how Mom found us when she came back into the kitchen. She kissed my cheek, then Dad's before wrapping her arm around his waist and resting her head on his chest.

"Bella needs a place to stay, once the semester is over and apparently Edward offered us up," Mom told him, flashing me an arched eyebrow.

My hand flew to the back of my neck and I rubbed it in frustration. "Yeah, well, you didn't hear what Charlie said, it was so uncomfortable," I explained.

Mom laughed and shook her head. "It's okay sweetheart, really, if you hadn't done it, I would have myself. Charlie Swan is a nice man and a fair police chief but he's not the type that would do well with a pregnant daughter. He'd find reasons to never be around."

I nodded, remembering that was essentially what Charlie had told Bella.

"And what did Bella say about that?" I wondered, since she hadn't commented on it at her father's house, but had obviously mentioned it to Mom.

"She's not sure," Mom said. "The poor girl is so lost right now. Her life is changing in so many ways and not any of the ways she expected it to."

I nodded. Bella had it much harder than I did. I didn't have to go through the changes that she did but eventually, I would have a child to help raise and I needed to start focusing on that.

"I think I need to talk to Bella," I told my parents.

"She's napping now. Let her rest, I'm not sure she's been doing much of that lately," Mom told me.

I nodded and walked out of the kitchen. I headed to the back yard, finding the old tree swing Dad had installed when Em and I were small. Why he had kept it once we got bigger, I wasn't sure, but sooner rather than later, another generation of Cullens would be playing on it.

I had a perfect view of Bella's room from where I sat and even though I couldn't see her, I knew she was in there. I stared at the window as I thought, recalling what I had told my father earlier. I would have done the same thing, given the same set of circumstances. Granted, I probably would have worn a condom, but who knows? I had been presented with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I had grabbed it with both hands. I was paying for that mistake now, but was it really that horrible to pay?

I pushed myself back and forth with one foot and continued to think. Bella and I were now forever linked to one another. For the rest of our lives, we now shared something that no one could ever tear apart. We had created a life, half her and half me, and even if we wound up not together in the future, we would always be joined, thanks to the baby.

My mind wandered, thinking of all the different scenarios that could happen. Bella could marry Jake, I could marry Tanya and we could share time with the baby. Not the ideal situation, but I did my best to avoid thinking of that. I didn't want to get my hopes up only to have them crash and burn horribly. Though it was only my imagination and imaginations were for the craziest of crazy right, even if they were highly unlikely?

I pictured us in the yard, a small one toddling over the grass. Bella was happy, laughing at something that had been said, while I was chasing our little one around. Finally, we wound up at the swing, the three of us. Bella seated, with the baby on her lap and me behind, pushing them slowly. As the swing would move back toward me, I would lean in and sneak a kiss on Bella's cheek, the baby's head, where ever I could reach. I could see Bella's stomach swelling slightly again, another baby we had created, this one created knowingly, on the way. The picture in my head made my chest ache, I wanted it do badly.

I halted the swing, stared at Bella's window once again and decided at that point, I would do whatever I could to make that image a reality.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Yeah, the usual, not mine, just playing, wishing I had been lucky enough to dream like that...**

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><p><span>Chapter 5<span>

I walked back into the house and found that my parents had left, which didn't make sense, or they were really good at hiding. I voted for hiding. I could just picture them, Mom in particular, lying in wait, ready to pop out at any moment.

I heard movement upstairs, so I headed up and knocked lightly on the door where I knew Mom had put Bella.

"Come in," she called out softly and I opened the door to see Bella looking over her shoulder to see who it was. "Oh, Edward, hi, I thought you were your mother."

I nodded, shoving my hands into my pants pockets, unsure of what to say now that it was just her and I.

"Did you sleep well?" I asked, ever the polite boy.

Bella shrugged. "Not really, I mostly just tossed and turned." She sank down on the edge of the bed and motioned for me to sit down as well. I walked further into the room and sat down next to her, but there was enough space between us that I didn't think I would make her feel uncomfortable. I leaned forward, my gaze focused on my hands and waited to see if she would say anything.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. My head shot up and I stared at her, wondering why she was apologizing when I was the one in the wrong.

"I should be the one saying that to you," I offered. Bella shook her head and laid a hand on my arm.

"I shouldn't have gotten myself in that situation. I knew better and still I did it. You didn't do it alone and I do remember enough about that night to know that it wasn't rape," she explained.

"But I took advantage of you, I forgot a condom," I fumbled with my words.

Bella bit her bottom lip and nodded. "Yeah, I'm not letting you off the hook, but I am owning up to my share in this."

I nodded, oddly feeling better that she still blamed me.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Bella asked. I looked up from my hands to her and found her looking everywhere but at me. "I mean, we have some time and all, it's not like we'll have this baby tomorrow or anything."

"What do you want me to do Bella? Just tell me and I'll do it," I said quickly. "It's the least I can do."

Bella's head whipped around to look at me and the calm expression that had been on her face was now gone and replaced with an angry one. Anger all focused on me.

"I am not a burden and I refuse to let you make me feel that way!" She said forcefully.

I leaned back, wondering what I had said that made her feel that way. "Wait, I didn't, I mean-," I stuttered, only to stop when she stood up and started moving around the room again. She paced around the room, her fury following her like a cloud of dust.

"I am perfectly capable to doing this on my own Edward Cullen and don't you forget that!" She told me, spinning in her pacing to point at me. She resumed pacing and I just watched, quickly understanding that it would be better for me to simply be seen and not heard. "I don't need someone to treat me like a poor sad little girl who got knocked up, got me? I don't need pity! I don't need to be made to feel inferior because I got pregnant while I was 20! I can raise this baby without you and everyone else like you and don't you forget it!"

Her rage ended as quickly as it started and she sank onto the floor, leaning against the dresser. She buried her face in her drawn knees and wrapped her arms around them, creating a little ball of Bella.

"Bella," I started. She didn't say anything and I moved from the bed to sit on the floor next to her. Once I was closer, I could tell she was crying again. I hoped that the crying part would pass soon, but then I remembered that after this week, the next time I would see Bella would be only a couple of months before the baby was due. I reached out, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and surprisingly, she turned and buried her face in my side. The warmth of her tears penetrated my t-shirt and I turned slightly toward her, so I could hold her easier. She moved with me until her face was resting on my chest. Her hands gripped the cotton of my shirt and I patted her back as she cried. It was less awkward this time, I guessed I was getting used to it.

Bella didn't say anything and I didn't push. We sat there in silence, her sobs easing over time into snuffling, then nothing. I looked down to see her eyes were closed and it looked like she had finally fell asleep.

"Are you two okay?" Mom's gentle voice came from the doorway. I looked over to find her standing there, watching Bella and I.

"Yeah," I answered. The movement of my chest when I spoke was enough to wake Bella and she quickly sat up, looking around in confusion. When she saw me, she moved backwards quickly, and I had to reach out and grab her arm to keep her from falling and hitting her head on the bed frame.

"What? Huh?" Bella asked and I released her, quickly standing up, then leaning down to help her rise as well. She took my hand, allowing me to help her, then Mom swooped in and all but pushed me out of the way.

"Why don't you go to bed Edward?" Mom suggested, not looking at me, but completely focused on Bella.

"Uhm, yeah, okay," I said. I left the guest room, pulling the door shut behind me and walked across the hall to my own room. Everything was the same as when I had at the holidays and yet, nothing was the same. It never would be, thanks to my inability to keep my dick in my pants. The girl of my dreams was across the hall, carrying my baby but it was not how I had pictured it when I was younger. I pictured us married, older when we had kids, sleeping in the same bedroom at the very least and now, reality was nothing like what I thought.

I looked at the clock and found a few hours had passed while I was holding Bella. The sun had set and night had fallen. I hadn't noticed the darkening of the room, I had been focused on only Bella. I would still be focused on her, if Mom hadn't pushed me out of the room. I couldn't understand why she kept doing that. Every time I got near Bella for any length of time, Mom would suddenly show up and pull her away from me. It was frustrating and when I heard Mom leaving Bella's room, I decided I needed to get some answers.

"Mom?" I called out, making her jump in surprise.

"Edward, you scared me," she said softly, turning to look at me with a smile.

"Sorry, can we talk?" I asked and she nodded.

"Sure, how about downstairs, so Bella can rest?" She suggested. I followed her downstairs and into the family room. She sat down on one of the couches and patted the space next to her. I took the offer, and once I was seated, Mom reached out and grabbed one of my hands in hers.

"So?" She prompted.

"Why do you keep pulling Bella away from me?" I blurted out. I never had a problem talking to my mother. She had always been my sounding board and that hadn't changed.

"Edward, even if you two had a normal relationship, this would still be very difficult for Bella. Sometimes, a woman needs to talk to another woman, and since her mother isn't around," she trailed off.

"So, I can't help her because I don't have-have," I fumbled.

Mom sighed and shook her head. "No, you can help her, but really, I think right now, you are just adding more confusion to everything. She needs to relax, the best she can and whether you mean to or not, you add stress to this situation. Maybe it's a good thing that you two will be apart for the next couple of months. It'll give you both a chance to adjust without the added weight of feeling like you need to placate the other one."

"Mom, Bella is not placating me," I told her.

Mom's head tilted to the side and her lips pursed together. "I wouldn't be too sure of that. She seems like she's very independent and this has to have thrown her for a loop. Then add in you and yeah, she might be placating you just a little bit sweetie."

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "I just want to help her, to do what I can to make it better, easier," I tried to explain.

"I know that, and Bella knows that as well, she just needs the time to adjust to that," Mom explained. "Go back to school and finish the semester, but talk to her, as much as she'll let you. Remind her that you are involved, but you aren't trying to overwhelm her. Let her call the shots, at least for a little while. She's going through a really tough time emotionally and physically, with all the changes that come with pregnancy. Just be you and it'll work out, I promise."

I nodded, knowing Mom's advice was probably the best course of action. We parted and I headed to bed, suddenly tired. I fell into a deep sleep and when I woke in the morning, I was rested and ready to be there for Bella, however she wanted me to be.

The next morning, I woke and once we had breakfast and said goodbye to my parents, we headed back to U Dub. We were quiet on the trip back, Bella was obviously lost in her thoughts, allowing me time with mine. Once we reached her dorm, I knew that I was going to give her all the space she wanted. I would let her know that I would be available, whenever and where ever she wanted, but it was up to her to decide how this was going to go, at least for now.

"Thanks," she said quietly, sliding out from the Jeep's seat. She turned and looked back at me, silently staring, then shaking her head.

"No problem," I told her and then she was gone.

I didn't see much of her before I left, spending the majority of my time with Emmett. I decided to write her a note before I left and had Rose promise to give it to her once I headed back to Dartmouth. Em and I parted at the airport, more solemn than when I had arrived, but that was understandable. Our worlds had changed over the course of a week and it would take time to adjust, for everyone.

Once I was back on campus, I hunted down Tanya and explained what had happened over Spring Break. She was upset and wanted nothing to do with me. I couldn't blame her, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with me if our positions had been reversed.

A couple of weeks went by and I got caught up in classes. The semester was coming to a close and projects and papers were due, filling up the free time that I had spent with Tanya. I thought about Bella and Emmett fed me little bits of information via email when he could, but he was busy with the end of his semester as well.

I was surprised when my phone rang late one night, pulling me out of the stupor I had fallen into while trying to write a paper for my English class. I blindly answered it, my voice scratchy and deep from a lack of use.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Ed-Edward? Is that you? It's Bella," she said softly. "I was hoping we could talk."


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry for the delay...darn site being a pain! Enjoy and let me know what you think!**

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><p><span>Chapter 6<span>

I immediately sat up, running my eyes around my room frantically, making sure that everything was neat and tidy. I stopped for a minute, then shook my head. Bella was on the phone, not standing at my door, she couldn't see whether or not I had left my underwear in a pile in front of my closet door or if I had made my bed. Just for the record, no underwear on the floor, but the bed was a mess.

"Edward? Are you there?" She asked and my mind shot back to her, on the other end of the phone.

"Yeah, yeah I'm here," I replied quickly. "Uhm, hi." I sounded stilted, like I had no idea what to say, even without the added pressure of being face to face.

I heard a little laugh from the other end, then her voice. "Hi back."

I waited for her to continue, but the silence just grew between us to the point where it was making me uncomfortable. "So?" I prompted, hoping Bella would get the hint. She did.

"Oh, sorry, I am so sorry," she apologized quickly. "I wanted to talk to you, uh, to apologize."

"Apologize? For what?" I asked, not really understanding.

"For the way I treated you while you were here. I was so emotional and distraught and I took it all out on you and for that I am sorry," she told me.

I hadn't really thought too much about her reaction while I had been there. I wasn't happy with myself over the entire incident, why would I have thought Bella would be?

"It's okay," I said.

"No, it really isn't, but you are sweet to dismiss it like that," she replied. "I'll make it up to you, I promise."

"Uh, okay. How are you feeling?" I asked, switching topics. My heart had beat a little harder at Bella calling me sweet and I refused to dwell on that, at least while she was on the phone.

"Better, the raging bitch seems to have run away and now I'm hungry all the time. Emmett keeps teasing that I eat more than he does at meals," she said. I could hear the amusement in her voice and I was glad that something was making her happy.

"I seriously doubt that. Emmett has quite a bit on you size-wise," I stated.

Her giggle filled my ear and unconsciously I smiled in response.

"Are you calling me fat, Cullen?" She asked, her tone turning serious and the grin fell from my lips. Fuck, I had pissed her off.

"No, no, how would I know? It's not like I've seen you or I have Em sending me pictures or anything," I said quickly, hoping to diffuse the situation before it turned ugly.

"Relax, Edward, I'm just teasing you. It's hard to know what people are thinking when all you get is their voice, isn't it?" Bella observed.

"At least a voice can convey emotion, email is worse," I said, relaxing at her assurance that I hadn't fucked this up.

"True, which is why I had Emmett give me your number," she stated.

I nodded silently, then remembered Bella couldn't see me response. "Oh, okay," I said out loud and things got quiet between us again.

"Are you busy this weekend?" Bella asked out of the blue.

"I have a paper due on Thursday, then I don't have class again until Monday night, why?" I asked.

"I have a doctor's appointment to find out the sex of the baby on Friday and I was hoping you might be able to be there," she explained.

She wanted me to fly to Seattle to see if we were having a boy or a girl? She wanted me with her? I was in shock and my mind scrambled.

"I mean, I was hoping, but if you can't, I could ask your mom, she's stopped by a couple of times to take me to lunch," Bella said in my silence.

"No, I can, I want to, I, I," I sputtered, still in shock and unable to get out what I wanted to. "What time Friday?"

"The appointment is at 3," she told me.

"Let me get a flight, uh, hold on," I said quickly. I pulled up a browser window, my paper all but forgotten in the background and searched for flights from me to her.

"I can leave here at 6 Friday morning and be in Seattle by 12:30, will that work?" I told her once my search had generated results.

"Sure, the airport isn't far from campus, I can pick you up, if you like," Bella responded.

"Sounds good, let me book this and then, I'll see you on Friday," I said, pushing a button to purchase my ticket. The computer did its magic and a confirmation screen popped up, letting me know that my credit card was now considerably lighter, but I would get to see the baby that Bella and I had made first hand. I was pretty sure I could convince Mom and Dad of that when my bill came in at the end of the month.

"Okay, all done," I told her and gave her my flight information.

"Okay, great," she replied. "Well, let me let you get back to whatever you were doing before I called."

"Yeah, gotta finish that paper before I can fly out," I said.

"Well, I'll see you on Friday, she said softly.

"Yeah, see you then," I said in the same tone of voice.

She disconnected the call and I held the phone to my ear until it started beeping, letting me know the call had ended. I pushed the end button, then tossed the phone onto my desk and ran my hands through my hair. I was flying to Seattle to see Bella, because Bella had asked me to. I had just dropped everything because she wanted me at her side. Was it fucked up? Yeah. Would I do it again? Probably. I needed some sanity and I knew I wasn't going to get it from myself so I called the one person I could count on to tell me straight: Alice.

"You are interrupting my special time with the Gossip Girl bunch," she said as she answered.

"Tell Blair and Serena that I apologize," I responded with a chuckle.

"You know that Blair, she'll never forgive you Eddie," Alice giggled. I heard rustling in the background, then she was back on the line. "I love my DVR, pause is a wonderful thing. So, what's up buttercup?"

"Tell me I'm not crazy," I said quickly.

"No can do Edward, I am convinced the world is crazy and you right along with them," Alice replied.

"Well, tell me I'm doing the right thing," I revised.

"Depends, what is the thing you are doing?" She asked.

"Flying to Seattle so I can be at the ultrasound appointment with Bella this Friday," I blurted out.

Alice got quiet, then she started laughing, hard. I let you get it out, knowing that once she started, you just needed to let it come to a natural end. I heard her take a deep breath, which was my signal that the laughter was over and I started talking again.

"It is insane to do that? I mean, I am spending a shitload of time and money just so I can see whether I am shooting X's or Y's," I sighed.

"Do you want to be there?" Alice asked quietly. "At any point did you think that you didn't want to go?"

"No, not at all," I said.

"Then you have your answer," Alice stated. "It's not crazy or insane or foolish if it means something to you and obviously, it means something to her as well to ask for it."

"See, I knew you could put it into perspective for me," I said, finally feeling the anxiousness leaving my body. I just needed someone else to tell me what I was thinking wasn't silly and Alice had done that.

We discussed my trip for a few minutes, then I let her go, since she had given up her precious time with her TV to talk me down.

"Have a safe flight and call me when you find out! Auntie Alice needs to know if I am returning the pink or blue outfits I've already bought," she told me with a laugh.

I rolled my eyes and hung up. It didn't surprise me that Alice already had things purchased for the baby, she loved to shop and her best friend's baby was the perfect excuse.

I shut down my computer, telling myself that finishing the paper in the morning would still give me time to edit and revise before it was due on Thursday. I climbed into bed, wondering who our baby would look like and if I could convince Bella into getting on of those 3D ultrasounds so we could really see what it would look like.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Welcome back! So, I'm not going to torture anyone and decided to get right to the trip back to Seattle for Edward. Let's see how it goes shall we? Thank you all for the reviews, alerts and favorites! I am so happy to see so many people are enjoying my Edward (and Bella) as much as I do! I will be replying to reviews, I know I've been slacking a bit on the last couple of chapters, RL has been a witch the past couple of weeks, but I wanted you all to know I have read them and I love them, even the bad ones!**

**As usual, I don't own 'em, I just like to make them all angsty and miserable for a lil bit!**

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><p><span>Chapter 7<span>

"Welcome to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport," a generic female voice said as I walked off the jet way and into the terminal. The flight from the East Coast had been long and the lay-over in Chicago had been almost too short for me to run from one end of O'Hare to the other, but now I was back in Washington. I followed the crowd through the terminal, heading to baggage claim, though I didn't have anything to pick up. I was traveling light, seeing as I was just there for the weekend. Passenger pick-up was outside baggage claim and I figured this was where I could find Bella.

I entered the lower level, crowded with travelers anxious to find their bags and get on with their travel since no one's final destination was an airport terminal. I looked around, trying to find a familiar brown head, but there were too many people to see clearly. I then looked around for an open area, somewhere I could stand back and get a good view of the crowd. I found a spot near the windows that looked out onto the loading zone. There was a concrete ledge and I stood up on it, the extra few inches allowing me to get a clearer look of the area. I slowly scanned, looking around for some sign of Bella but didn't see one. I quickly pulled out my cell phone, wondering if she had called while I was on the plane and I wouldn't have received it until now. The screen stared back at me, free of any missed calls or messages. I shoved it back into my pocket and renewed my study of the crowd.

Loud knocking on the window behind me surprised me, making me lose my balance and I stumbled off the ledge and onto the floor below. I quickly looked to see who had knocked to find Bella smiling at me. I stood up, gave her a grin and headed out to meet her in the loading area.

"Sorry about scaring you like that," she said when we were together. "What were you doing anyway?"

"Trying to find you. I wasn't sure where you would be and there was a mob, so I thought getting up higher might help," I explained.

She grinned and shook her head. "You're tall, you couldn't see over everyone enough already?"

"Nope, not tall enough apparently," I replied.

"Well, let's get back to my truck before I get towed. There is a 10 minute limit for stops," she explained. She turned and headed toward the road and I followed along. We reached her truck, an old beat up Chevy that looked like it had seen better days. I tossed my bag in the back, then climbed into the cab, watching as Bella did the same.

"I'm gonna hate having to give up Oscar," she sighed once we cleared the airport and were on the highway.

"Who's Oscar?" I asked.

She reached out and gently stroked the dashboard of the truck. "This is Oscar," she told me.

I nodded, not sure how to react. I didn't really know anyone who had named their car before. "Why will you have to get rid of it, er, him?"

Bella glanced over at me and shook her head. "I can't exactly fit a car seat in here and feel like the baby will be secure. At least you have your Volvo, it'll be fine for the baby."

"Oh, right," I said in surprise. I hadn't even thought of the fact that the baby would need a car seat or anything else for that matter. I mean, I knew Alice had bought clothes already, but I hadn't thought of anything else.

"Alice bought a bunch of clothes for the baby already," I blurted out.

"Really? Why?" Bella asked. "It's not like she and I are friends really."

"She's my best friend," I told her.

"Yeah, right, I forgot or maybe I didn't know that," Bella replied slowly. "We don't really know much about each other, do we Edward?"

Well, I knew a lot about her, but I wasn't about to reveal that to her. I shrugged and cleared my throat. "No, uh, I guess we don't."

"We could get to know one another, I mean, we'll be together for the rest of our lives," Bella told me. As much as I knew she didn't mean it that way, I couldn't help but feel excitement at the idea of Bella and I together for the rest of our lives. We would always have something in common, something that no one else could ever come between, something that was 50% her and 50% me.

"Yeah," I replied, swallowing hard.

Before either of us could say anything else, Bella gasped and covered her stomach. I panicked, not sure what was going on, but knowing that gasping was probably not a good thing.

"Are you? Is everything?" I asked frantically, wishing Bella would pull over. I fumbled for my cell phone, needing to call Dad, so he could talk me through everything and determine what we needed to do next. "Hold Bella, I'm gonna call my Dad and then we can figure out what to do next."

Bella placed a hand on my arm and my mind cleared enough to hear her soft giggle fill the cab with sound.

"Well, you can call him if you like, but unless you are asking for restaurant recommendations, we could probably do without the call," Bella said. I looked up from her hand on my arm to her face and saw her smiling at me. "It was just my stomach growling. I didn't eat before I came to pick you up and it's protesting."

I blinked and my mind went blank. All my anxiousness over making sure she was okay fled my mind and all I could focus on was her smile. I had seen Bella smile numerous times, but I had never been on the receiving end. It was breathtaking.

"Edward? Hey, are you okay?" Her voice called out, breaking me from my trance.

"Yeah, uh, sorry," I mumbled, rubbing a hand over my face.

"You must be tired, I'm so sorry. Once we are done at the doctor, I'll get you back to Em's room so you can rest," Bella promised.

"Sure, yeah," I muttered.

"So, is this okay?" Bella asked. I then noticed we were stopped and parked in front of a diner.

"Sure," I said again and Bella nodded. She slid out of the truck and I followed. She led the way into the diner and we were seated quickly.

"The patty melt is pretty good, but I come here for the pot roast. For some reason, I have a craving for pot roast," she explained, not looking away from her menu.

"If you are getting the pot roast, why are you looking at the menu?" I asked, confused at her actions.

She lowered the menu and arched an eyebrow at me. "Just in case something else sounds more appealing to me. Just because I came for the pot roast doesn't mean I'll get it."

I didn't understand the logic, but one thing being friends with Alice had taught me was sometimes you are better off just nodding and smiling. I did just that and Bella returned to her perusal of the menu.

"So, what can I get for you?" The waitress asked when she stopped at the table. "Oh, Bella, the cook wanted to let you know that he's out of green beans today, so you'll have to pick something else with the pot roast."

Bella sighed and shook her head. "The green beans just really make the whole thing Susie. Maybe carrots instead?"

The waitress nodded, then turned to look at me. "And for you?"

"The club sandwich," I told her. She scribbled on a pad, collected the menus and disappeared. I looked at Bella and she gave me a small grin.

"So, tell me more about you Edward," she started.

"Like what? I've lived in Forks my whole life, Emmett is my brother, you know all of that stuff already," I reminded her.

She leaned toward me, her elbows folded onto the table and she rested her chest against them. It pushed her breasts up and I intently focused on her face, mentally telling myself to ignore the breasts, no matter how much I wanted to look at them and how well they were framed my her arms.

"Yeah, I know that stuff, but why Dartmouth? What's your major? Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" Bella asked.

I ran a hand through my hair, resting my hand on the back of my neck. "Well, Dartmouth is where my father went to school and they have a pretty good Architecture program."

"So you want to be an architect?" Bella asked and I nodded.

"Yeah, I thought about being a doctor for the longest time, but then I took a drafting class and I was hooked. Fortunately, Dartmouth had both and it was easy to change my major," I explained.

"Won't your father be disappointed that you are following in his footsteps?" Bella inquired.

I shook my head. "No, all he wants is for Em and I to find something we are good at and do well. He's doesn't care about all that, and Em is majoring is Sports Medicine, so maybe he'll be the doctor."

Bella grinned and took a drink from the water glass in front of her. The waitress reappeared, placing our lunches in front of us and once she left, Bella started talking again.

"You haven't answered me. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?" Bella asked.

I stared at my plate, unsure how to answer her. What I had pictured just a few months ago wasn't anything close to what I knew my future held now. Even then, did I tell her that I hoped to make her part of my life? That I wanted her in it as more than just the babymama?

I shrugged and took a bite from my sandwich, giving myself more time to answer.

"Well, since you don't know, I'll tell you mine," Bella said. She laid her fork down on the side of her plate and stared at me, then took a deep breath. "I hope that in 5 years we'll have a wonderful child who is well loved and well cared for, regardless of his or her auspicious beginnings." I nodded, silently agreeing as I chewed. Bella continued to talk. "I really want both of us involved in this. I know I might have come across as not wanting that earlier, but I think it's important for both parents to be involved. Every child deserves to know that their parents care about them, even if they aren't together." Her voice got hard at the end and before I could clear my throat to ask about it, her mouth was full and she kept it that way.

Once we were done eating, Bella glanced at the clock and jumped up. "Oh no! We're going to be late and then we'll miss the appointment!"

I stood up and grabbed the check from the table. Bella frowned as she watched me do it, but I shrugged, tossed enough money on the table to cover the cost and tip and nodded toward the door. "You can pay next time," I told her.

She frowned and nodded. She turned toward the door and together we left quickly. The distance from the diner to the office was short and when Bella walked up to sign in, she was given a dirty look from the receptionist.

"Pushing close, aren't you Miss Swan?" the woman asked, sneering slightly. "You know how tightly we are scheduled and we just can't wait for everyone."

I didn't like what was going on and quickly jumped in to take the heat off of Bella and place it on myself.

"Well, I insisted on being here for this appointment specifically and Bella was picking me up at the airport," I told the woman. She turned from Bella and looked at me. She smiled broadly and her body language changed from annoyed to flirtatious.

"Oh, are you the father?" She asked. "I'm Gianna. It's so nice to see-," she started and I turned from her to look down at Bella.

"It that everything you need up here sweetheart? Let's go sit down, I know you were feeling tired earlier," I said sweetly. I glanced at Gianna, gave her a small smile, then led Bella over to a loveseat. I sat down next to her and made sure I was sitting close, knowing Gianna could see us from her desk.

"You didn't need to do that," Bella whispered. I leaned down toward her, partially so I could hear her, partially to make Gianna think Bella and I were having an intimate moment.

"Yes I did. She was being a bitch to you Bella. There is no reason for her to make you feel that way. Why do you even put up with it?" I asked.

She shrugged and before I could push for an answer, her name was called and together we walked back to one of the examining rooms. I was left in the room while the nurse and Bella left and I looked around. There was an examination table, a desk and computer, all the standard things in a doctor's office except for the art work. Where I was used to seeing landscapes and flowers at my doctor's office, this one was filled with things reminding you exactly where you were. A poster on the back of the door showed a baby, in utero, at the different stages of development. I was fascinated by the different pictures, showing a small collection of cells all the way up to a very developed baby that was very squished inside it's mother. I scanned the titles next to the pictures and found the one representing where my baby was at that time, 5 months. The baby looked like a baby, all it's fingers and toes were there, though there wasn't any hair yet. I read how the baby can yawn and stretch now, even start sucking it's thumb. I couldn't stop looking at the poster. The pictures weren't drawings, they were actual images and I was in awe. The door opened, disrupting my study and I stepped back quickly so I wouldn't get hit.

"Oh, I'm sorry, we didn't know you were there," the nurse said, covering her mouth with her hand.

"It's okay, I should have known better than to stand behind a door like that," I told her. Bella just grinned and walked over to the examination table, hopping up on it. The nurse smiled, told us the doctor would be in shortly and then left us alone.

"I did the same thing the first time I was here," Bella said softly.

"Did you know the baby can suck it's thumb now?" I asked her.

She nodded. "I have a book back at my room that tells you week by week what to expect. It's been really useful."

I mentally told myself that I needed to pick a book like that up once I got back to school, because I wanted to know exactly what was going on week by week. The doctor joined us at that point and after a moment, I understood why Bella put up with the rude woman at the front desk. The doctor was great. She greeted Bella warmly, even taking the time to introduce herself to me.

"So, you're Edward?" She asked and I nodded, wondering how she knew my name. She must have known my question, even though I didn't voice it and answered it anyway. "Your mother came with Bella last time, all she could talk about was getting you in here when you came home."

I nodded. It sounded like something my mother would do. "Sorry about that," I apologized. The doctor laughed and shook her head.

"It's nice to see happy people in my office. That is why I got into this, to bring joy to people," she explained. She turned back to Bella and pointed to the table. "Okay Bella, you know the drill, lay back and shirt up."

I watched as Bella did as instructed and I got my first look at the baby. Well, the bump that indicated that there was a baby. Bella's skin was smooth and white, no sign of any stretch marks and I wondered if those came later, when the baby was bigger. I really needed to educate myself better. I had a ton of questions and no one to ask. I watched as the doctor squirted some gel onto Bella's stomach, then placed a device into it. The room was then filled with a quick thumping sound, faster than anything I had heard before.

"And that sounds good," the doctor said.

"What is that?" I asked.

"The baby's heartbeat," Bella answered.

"That fast?" I asked, knowing my heartbeat was much slower than what I was hearing.

The doctor laughed. "Yes, that is a healthy rhythm, 120-160 beats per minute is standard. This little one is coming in today at 136."

I blinked. "It'll slow down?"

She laughed again. "Yes, the heart rate drops to a rate that you are familiar with once the baby is a toddler."

I nodded and glanced at Bella. She was grinning at me. I felt my face blush and she shook her head. "I asked the same thing when I first heard it too, don't feel bad."

The doctor cleaned up Bella's stomach, then went about the rest of the exam. The doctor questioned Bella as she moved her around, moving limbs this way and that. I watched and listened, learning that Bella was having problems sleeping and the back pain she had had earlier in the pregnancy had gone away. The doctor left the room, off to make sure they were ready for us in the ultrasound room, leaving Bella and I alone.

"Do you need anything?" I asked.

Bella raised up, resting on her elbows and shook her head. "No, well, just to get out of the dorm really. The bed is killing me and it's so uncomfortable, I can't sleep."

"Have you tried some sort of added padding?" I asked.

"Not yet, I am planning to go look later today," she told me.

"Okay, if you need anything, just let me know," I said.

Bella nodded and the doctor walked back in at that moment. "Okay Mom and Dad, let's go see your baby!"

We followed her down the hallway and into a different room. This one was dark, with a bed that resembled ones found in a hospital. Lots of equipment filled the room as well along with an additional person, who we were told was the radiology technician. She would be doing the ultrasound for us and Bella's doctor would get a report later, after everything had been gone over. She left us with a grin and the tech then took over.

"Okay, climb onto the bed, pull up your shirt and pull down your pants," she told Bella. "Dad, you can stand over here by Mom's head, that way you can see what she is seeing."

I moved to the area indicated and watched as Bella got situated. More gel was applied to her stomach, a different device was put into it and the baby's heartbeat filled the room once again.

"Good sound, strong," the tech said. She was focused on the small screen in front of her, moving the device over Bella's stomach without really looking at what she was doing. She'd move the thing, type some, then move it again.

"Okay, sorry for the delay, this little one didn't want to be photographed today," she told us with a laugh. "Look up on the monitor and you'll see what I see."

We both looked up and saw a grainy black and white screen. It was hard to tell what anything was, but something was moving. I heard a click, then the image froze and some words appeared on the screen.

"That is the head," she told us. More movement, then another click and freeze. "And the spine."

Once she started identifying parts, I could make out a baby. It was see-through, but that made sense, since it was seeing through Bella to get to the baby. The tech kept talking, identifying more parts of the baby for us as she did her work.

She stopped and turned away from the screen to look at us. "So, do we want to know?"

"Can you tell?" Bella asked and I wondered what they were talking about.

"Oh yeah, this little one is very willing to share with us," the tech laughed.

"Well, I want to know," Bella said. She looked up at me. "Do you want to know Edward?"

"Know what?" I asked.

"The gender," the tech clarified.

"Oh yeah, yeah, of course," I said quickly.

"Well, I hope you have some girls names picked out," the tech said with a smile.

"Really?" I asked, a grin breaking out on my face. "It's a girl?"

She nodded. "Yep, see here? Nothing there, that's a girl."

I looked down at Bella to find her smiling at me. I reached for her hand, taking it in mine and I squeezed it. She squeezed back and at that moment, I really wanted to kiss her. Just lean down and rest my lips against hers, nothing more than that. Instead, I let my lips brush over her forehead gently. I heard Bella's breathing stop and I stood back up quickly, afraid that she was going to get upset that I had done that. I released her hand, shoving mine into my pockets and focused on the tech. I watched as she cleaned up Bella, telling us that she'd go and get the pictures she printed for us before she left the room.

"Edward," Bella said softly, sitting up on the table.

"I'm sorry," I told her. "The emotions got to me."

She nodded and together we waited in silence for the tech to return. She came bustling back in, her one hand full of paper.

"Here you go! So you can get the baby book started early," she told us. She handed the papers to Bella and I saw that they were pictures of the baby, a bunch of them.

"I figured you might need a few," the tech said with a smile. We both thanked her for her time and then we walked back out into the waiting area of the office. Gianna was still there and gave us a tight smile when Bella approached the counter. She ignored Bella standing there and I wondered what was so important that she could ignore someone standing in front of her.

"What are you waiting for?" I asked Bella, looking back and forth between her and Gianna.

"I need to schedule my next appointment and it's better to do it now. I can never get through on the phone," Bella explained.

"Well, if someone would pay attention, we could get out of here quicker," I muttered. Gianna smiled and held up a finger to indicate she'd be with us in a moment. Bella's doctor entered the office area at that moment and looked first at Bella and I in question, then to Gianna who was stapling a stack of papers.

"Are you waiting for something Bella?" She asked.

"I need to schedule my next appointment and I am waiting for Gianna," Bella explained.

Bella's doctor frowned, then walked over to Gianna and said something quietly to her. Gianna frowned but quickly stood up and walked over to us, opening an appointment book on the desk. The doctor lingered in the background, watching the interaction with a frown, then once Bella was done, told us goodbye and left the office area. We left right after that, ignoring Gianna's false goodbye as we left.

"I was going to ask why you keep going there, but once I met your doctor, I can understand," I said as we walked back to the truck.

"Well, I'm going to have to change doctors once I move back to Forks anyway," Bella explained.

I nodded and got into the truck. Bella handed me the pictures and started the engine, giving me a chance to look at them. They were screen captures of what we had seen in the office, complete with the labels for the head, spine, legs, etc. What stopped me cold was the header at the top. _Baby Swan-Cullen_, it said.

"Swan-Cullen?" I asked, glancing at Bella.

"Yeah, is that okay? Swan by itself seemed weird, you know, since it's partly yours too," Bella explained.

"Yeah, no, uh, sure," I faltered. "Are you going to put that on the birth certificate too?"

Bella bit her lip and stared at me. She didn't say anything and if it hadn't been for the honking behind us, I think she would have done it for quite a while. She stopped looking at me and resumed driving.

"I guess," Bella said quietly. "If you are okay with that."

I nodded. "I guess so."

Bella sighed and I could tell her focus was now completely on driving. We were quiet heading to campus and when Bella pulled up outside Emmett's dorm, I gave her a smile but didn't leave.

"Have dinner with me," I blurted out.

She shook her head. "I can't, I have to go to a play for one of my classes tonight. I have to write a paper on the performance and compare it to the text."

"Oh, well, that's important," I said softly. I couldn't demand that she skip something for school. That would be idiotic and destroy the truce we had going at the moment.

"Do you want to come with me? It's Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, it's a comedy," she offered.

"Sure, what time?" I asked.

"I'll come and get you at 7:30, the play starts at 8," Bella said.

"Great, well, I'll see you then," I replied.

She nodded and I left the truck, grabbing my bag from the back. I gave her a wave and watched as she drove off. I looked down to see I still had all the pictures in my hands and mentally reminded myself to make sure to get them back to her when I saw her later that night. My face broke into a grin. I had a date with Bella tonight. Granted I had to get her pregnant to have it happen, but a date was a date. I wasn't going to fuck it up.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Sorry for skipping a week and then giving you a short chapter this week, but RL was a b*#$& last week and I need to get the ball rolling on this story. Time to get our boy and girl together and to do that, I give you a short transition chapter. I hope you like it, I will respond to reviews, really really I will!**

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><p><span>Chapter 8<span>

I swear the gods were conspiring against me. It's the only way I could explain how the evening with Bella went. Things started out fine. She showed up at Em's room at 7:30, just like she told me she would and the walk across campus from the dorms to the performing arts center, while quiet, was uneventful. Once we got inside the theater though, it was like I had entered into a parallel universe, a universe in which Bella liked me and I did everything in my power to try and dissuade her.

We sat next to one another, kind of a given considering out seats were side by side. Bella was friendly, chatting lightly while waiting for the play to start but my mouth wouldn't cooperate.

"So, a girl," Bella started.

"I wish it was a boy," I muttered, earning me a hard stare from Bella. "I have no idea what to do with girls," I said quickly, trying to wipe the frown off her face. "I'm a boy, Emmett is a boy, there are no girls in my family."

Bella sighed and nodded. "Well, yeah, I get that, I guess. You did manage to get my pregnant though, so girls can't be that foreign to you."

"Seriously, I'm lucky that you let me do that to you, and now the universe wants me to be a father to a little girl?" I said.

"You don't have to be," Bella reminded me softly. "You can simply be an absentee father. It happens all the time."

I shook my head quickly. "No way in hell. Besides, my parents wouldn't let me."

Bella's mouth opened to say something else, but the lights in the theater dimmed and the play began.

Shakespeare wasn't a favorite of mine, though from the watching I was doing of Bella from the corner of my eye, it was of hers. She grinned all along, laughing as soon as something funny was said. It was more entertaining for me to watch her than the action on the stage. At intermission, Bella called me out on it.

"Not your cup of tea?" She asked, gesturing to the stage.

"Not really, but you seem to be enjoying it," I remarked.

She nodded, pushing her hair behind her ear. She grinned at me and started talking about the play. She talked about the dynamic between Viola and Orsino and I just watched her lips move.

"You aren't listening to a word I say, are you Edward?" She asked.

I nodded, then when she started laughing, I was brought back to paying attention.

"No you aren't. Tell me what I said about Malvolio?" Bella demanded.

"Uh, he's the guy that the other two are trying to make look like a fool, right?" I asked hesitantly.

Bella nodded, grinning encouragingly, then she froze and her eyes went wide. She grabbed my hand and pulled it over to her, placing it on her stomach.

"Can you feel that?" She asked excitedly. I held still, waiting to feel whatever it was that Bella wanted me to sense.

I felt a soft fluttering movement under my hand and I quickly moved my eyes up from looking at my hand to look at her. "What does that feel like to you?" I asked.

"Kind of like a tidal wave, moving across my stomach," she explained.

"Wow," I said. "It's not that strong to me, but still, wow."

Bella nodded quickly, smiling once again. The lights dimmed once more and when I went to pull my hand back from her stomach, Bella grabbed onto it, covering it with her own and held it in place. I relaxed and let my hand rest on her, waiting for another movement from the baby, but my mind was focused on the fact that Bella was holding my hand. Granted it was really her hand on top of mine, but still, hands were touching. I was ecstatic.

The play ended and Bella removed her hand from mine, allowing me to move mine off her stomach. We rose and exited the theater, slowly walking back across campus toward the dorms that housed her and my brother.

"Thanks for coming with me tonight, even though I know you didn't really enjoy it," Bella said as we walked.

"I had a nice evening, since I was with you," I explained.

She grinned and slowly nodded her head. "Thanks for coming out here today, to go with me to the appointment. It really meant a lot."

It was my turn to nod and we grew silent once again.

"When do you get out of school?" She asked suddenly.

"In a month," I answered. "How about you?"

"Three weeks," she answered. "Em is going to help me move my things to your parents' house next weekend."

I suddenly got this sick feeling in my stomach. She was going to live with us, for the summer at least and Emmett was helping her move. That should be me, she was my responsibility, mine, not Emmett's.

"I could help you know," I muttered. "We could go tomorrow, take some things-," I started.

"I have to write a paper, on the play we just saw. I can't," she replied.

"Yeah, right," I grumbled.

"Edward? Are you okay?" Bella asked. She stopped walking and just looked at me. I turned to look back at her and found her frowning, with her arms folded over her chest.

"Yeah, fine," I answered petulantly. I was acting like a spoiled child, part of me knew this and yet, I couldn't stop it from happening. "I just don't understand why Emmett is helping you," I told her.

"Why wouldn't he? He's my friend and he's here," she said simply.

"Yeah, he is here," I agreed reluctantly. Bella must have picked up on my feelings based on what she said next.

"I would ask you but I don't want to have you fly out here again just for a weekend. That is too much to ask," she told me. "That is why I asked when your semester ended."

"Oh," was all I could reply.

"Look, I am tired. I need some sleep. Thanks for coming to the appointment with me and I'll see you soon, okay?" Bella said, looking over her shoulder at the dorms behind her.

I nodded and watched as she gave me a small smile, then walked toward the building where she lived with Rosalie. My eyes followed her all the way into the building, until I couldn't see her anymore. I was a idiot, plain and simple. I let my jealousy of my own brother ruin a perfectly nice evening and now, I was back to square one. Any progress I had made with Bella was gone and it was all my fault.

I spent the next day with Emmett and his roommates playing video games and drinking. I saw Bella in passing but Rose let it be known that Bella was 'swamped' with schoolwork and couldn't hang out. I knew the reason was me, I was sure of it and the trip back to the airport, this time in Emmett's car was much different than when I first got there on Friday.

"Take care of them," I told Emmett as I was leaving.

"You know I will Ed, don't worry," Emmett reassured me. He patted me on the shoulder in a comforting gesture and with a nod, we parted ways.

The flight back to New Hampshire was long and boring. I had nothing to look forward to, just finishing out the semester and then heading home. I did have a lot of time to think though. I was transferring to U Dub for the spring. I would take the fall off, it was too late to apply for a transfer at this point anyway and then when Spring rolled around and the baby was born, I would be close by, close to my girls, as I started thinking of Bella and the baby. Because even if Bella wasn't mine yet, I had every intention of making that happen once we were together in Forks.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I know I said I would update more frequently and I apologize from the bottom of my heart. This chapter was more difficult that I anticipated, simply because it was a transition chapter and I hate transition chapters! I much prefer action and unfortunately, sometimes you have to have some boring times to get to the action later. Hope this isn't too boring and thanks for still reading (if I haven't run everyone off!)**

**As usual, the characters aren't mine, but the storyline is!  
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><p><span>Chapter 9<span>

"Ed! Over here!" Emmett's voice filled the area and if he wasn't loud enough, his arms waving over his head like a madman would have let me know where he was. He was picking me up at the airport in Seattle, then we were headed home for the summer. Well, summer for him, undetermined amount of time for me. I had shipped home almost all of my things from Dartmouth earlier, leaving me only a small carry-on bag to take with me on the flight. I approached Emmett and found that he was alone, which surprised me a little bit. Until he started explaining.

"Mom and Rose are getting things settled for Bella. They've been getting her room set up this week as well as starting on the nursery for the baby. Mom's gone mad, let me tell you," Emmett informed me.

I nodded, not really sure what to say. I knew things would happen without me around, but something felt weird hearing that Mom and Rose were the ones taking care of Bella and the baby.

The ride home mostly consisted of me making noises as Emmett filled me in on his past year in school. Granted, I knew all of it already, since we talked at least once a week, but he wanted to go over it again and it saved me from actually have to pay attention. My mind was focused on getting home and getting started on the rest of my life. I was tired of limbo, I was tired of thinking 'Just wait until you are home.' I was home and now it was time to sort some things out.

Em pulled his Jeep into the driveway and the door to the house was opened, revealing our mother.

"Edward!" she said gleefully and walked over to give me a hug and kiss on the cheek.

"Hi Mom," I muttered as I hugged her back.

"I am so glad to see you," she started. "Wait until you see what we've been doing for Bella."

"Yeah, I've heard you've been busy," I said simply.

"Well, Bella and the baby need someone to take care of them you know," Mom replied. She let go of me and headed back into the house. "Grab your stuff and come on in. Your boxes from school arrived and I had them put in the garage."

I felt a little like an afterthought, but maybe I was making too much out of it. The next few hours were filled with getting settled into my room again. I left the boxes in the garage for another day, it wasn't stuff I needed while at home but since it wasn't shipping back to the East Coast again in a couple of months, I knew I would have to sort through it before Mom started complaining about them.

I stopped and sat down on my bed, realizing for the first time in a couple of hours, the house was pretty quiet. There were at least 4 people around the place, including myself and it sounded like it was abandoned. I ventured out of my room to find out what was going on and found Mom in the kitchen cooking.

"Why is it so quiet? It's never quiet when Em is around," I commented.

"Shh!" Mom said, turning to look at me with her finger over her lips. "Bella is taking a nap and I sent Emmett away so his loud mouth wouldn't disturb her."

"Uh, okay," I said in confusion. "What's for dinner?" Mom had a tradition that when someone in the family came home from school, business trip, whatever, dinner was that person's favorite. Emmett would have gotten his dinner of fried chicken and macaroni and cheese last week when he got home from school so I was expecting my favorite lasagna tonight. "That doesn't smell like lasagna."

"It isn't. I'm making a stir fry, we all need to eat healthier and the baby needs the added nutrients," Mom told me.

"But-," I started and stopped when I got a glare from Mom.

"That sucks," I muttered.

"Edward, that is enough. I am doing my best to take care of your child and all I get is complaining," Mom told me with a huff.

I stared at her for a moment, then shook my head and walked out of the room. I wasn't about to get in a fight with her. I knew better than that, but it was like a completely different person had come and inhabited my mother's body and I didn't like it.

I headed back up to my room, anxious to avoid Mom at all costs, only to run into Bella on the stairs.

"Oh, hi, you're home," she said softly.

I nodded, unsure of what to say. "How are you feeling?"

Bella grinned and pushed her hair back off her shoulder. I watched the brown strands move and wondered what it felt like. Was it smooth like silk or rougher? I imagined it would feel incredible either way in my hands.

"Edward?" Bella's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Are you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, fine, sorry, so everything is good?" I asked again, since I hadn't heard the original answer.

"Yeah, fine," Bella said with a grin. "Maybe you need a nap, it must have been a long flight."

I nodded but stayed silent. My lack of a verbal response made Bella uncomfortable, I could see it in her face and she was quick to excuse herself.

"I'm just gonna head downstairs. I'll see you later, okay?" She asked and I nodded once again. She eased by me and finished her descent on the stairs, disappearing around the corner. I closed my eyes and let out a breath I hadn't known I was holding.

Why was I incapable of talking to her? Everything had been reasonably fine when I went to the doctor's appointment with her. What had changed?

I walked the rest of the distance to my room and laid on the bed, thinking Bella's suggestion of a nap wasn't that bad of an idea. I stared at the ceiling, wishing for sleep to overtake me and I tried to think of how I would talk to Bella once I woke up. I wanted to talk about Mom and her attitude. I needed to find out if Bella was comfortable with it. If she was, then I wouldn't say anything to Mom, but if she wasn't, I should be the one to make the comments. She was my mother after all. If this living together thing was going to work out, we needed to be on the same page. To be on the same page, we needed to talk and I needed to get my head out of my ass and do it. Pleased that I had an action plan, I drifted off to sleep.

I woke up, thinking I had slept for a couple of hours only to find out it was much later than I had expected. My stomach started protesting the lack of food it had been given and I headed back downstairs and into the kitchen, just as I had a few hours before. This time, Mom was not at the stove cooking and I was pretty sure the rest of the occupants of the house were asleep. I opened the fridge, deciding to settle my stomach with a sandwich and pulled out the necessary items. I turned to the counter to place the items on there and turned back to find a knife and a plate.

"So you're finally awake?" Mom's voice surprised me and I turned, thankful that I didn't drop the plate onto the floor. She laughed when she saw she'd surprised me and walked over to sit at the counter. "I saved you some dinner but that looks better than what I fixed." She grinned and nodded toward the sandwich fixings. "Make me one too?"

I nodded and grabbed another plate from the cabinet and set about making two sandwiches. Once I was done, I slid one to her and took a bite from my own. I watched as she bit down, then she smiled at me, speaking once her mouth was empty once again. "I should have made the lasagna."

"Mom," I started, then stopped, not really wanting to tell my mother that I thought she was wrong but knowing that she was.

"I'm sorry honey," she said. "I have been so caught up with making sure everything is perfect for Bella and the baby, I haven't really paid any attention to anything else. Emmett really doesn't seem to care, and your father is working so much, not that that is anything new."

I decided to just tell her, since she sounded so remorseful. "Mom, you know I am capable of helping out as well. I'm not a kid any more. I know what I did and I am willing to take responsibility for my actions. You need to give me a chance to do that though and by doing everything for everyone, you aren't allowing me to do that."

Mom grew silent, chewing thoughtfully on her sandwich, then started talking again. "I just want to make sure that you two, you three actually, are okay. I know how tough it is to have a baby and I want to save you and Bella the stress that comes along with it. You are both so young. I was older than you two when I had you and your brother and I was completely overwhelmed. The only thing that helped me was having my mother there to help. I want to be able to help Bella, since her mother isn't."

"Mom, we're going to mess up, how else are we supposed to learn? But you have to give us the chance to do it. I want to get to know Bella and help raise my baby, but right now, I feel like a third wheel," I explained.

"You just got home, how can you feel that way already?" Mom asked.

"I've felt that way for a while now, but now, I can do something about it. Give me a chance to do something," I pleaded.

Mom nodded and pushed her plate away from her. "Okay, I'll back off. But if you need me," she trailed off, letting the offer remain unspoken.

"I know where to find you," I finished with a grin.

She walked around the counter and pulled me down so she could place a kiss on the top of my head. Mom was short compared to Dad, Em and I, so we were used to being tugged and pulled into position for Mom to hug and kiss us. "I'm headed to bed. Clean up when you're done, okay?" I nodded and Mom left the kitchen, leaving me to finish my sandwich alone. I cleaned up the plates, wiped down the counter and headed back up to my room. I wasn't tired, but figured if I put on a movie, maybe it would make me fall asleep. I laid down on the bed, used the remote to turn on the television and flipped through the channels until I found something that I could tolerate. As soon as I got comfortable, I heard a knock on my door and then watched as it slowly opened. I muted the sound and watched silently as Bella slowly walked into my room.

"Uhm, Edward, could we talk?"

I sat up quickly and stared at her for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, sure, come on in."

Bella walked fully into the room, closed the door behind her just as quietly as she had opened it and hesitated. I nodded toward the end of the bed and watched her walk over and sit down on the end, facing me. She pulled her legs up under her, rested her arms on her knees and took a deep breath.

"I heard what you said to your mom tonight and uh," she stopped and I quickly started talking, wanting to clarify myself to her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't talk to you first, I mean you could be perfectly content with Mom hovering and doing everything for you, but it just seemed wrong, from what Em was telling me and seeing Mom when I got home, I just thought-." I stopped when Bella smiled and held up her hand.

"No, no, it's fine. I am used to doing everything on my own, to being the one that is always taking care of others that it's different to have someone taking care of me. It was starting to get a little overwhelming, even though I liked it at first. Between your mother and Rosalie, I am feeling a little smothered. I can tell Rose to back off, but I felt weird telling your mom." She bit her bottom lip as she grinned and I felt myself smile in response.

"So you aren't mad that I did that?" I was quick to clarify.

"No, not at all, but don't think you are going to step in and smother me instead of her, understand?" She warned me.

I nodded, glad for the warning because I knew I would do the same thing Mom had been doing and would justify it saying I was doing it for the baby, just as Mom had.

"I appreciate the place to stay and the support, but there are still some things that I need to do for myself. I need to learn how to take care of myself and the baby," she explained.

"I'll be there too," I reminded her.

"I know, but not all the time. It's not like we are together, you know? We share a baby but that's it," she told me.

I felt the smile leave my face and a feeling of sadness blanket me. She was right, we didn't have anything except for a human that shared our DNA and it didn't sound like she was interested in anything else.

"Yeah, I get it," I stated. I leaned back against the headboard and looked around the room, very uncomfortable all the sudden.

"Edward, I'm-," Bella started and I cut her off.

"No, don't be. You didn't say anything but the truth," I stated.

I felt her hand cover mine and I looked down at our hands and then up at her. "Bella, you need to tell me what you want from me. I'm getting mixed signals and I just want to make sure that I don't fuck anything up."

She pulled her hand back from mine and clasped it with her other one, then placed them in her lap. She was quiet for a couple of moments, then frowned and looked at me sympathetically. "I don't know what I want Edward, I really don't know."

She climbed off the bed and walked to the door, opening quietly once again. She gave me a sad smile, then walked out, the door closing with a soft click.

I fell back onto the bed, covering my eyes with my arm and sighed. "I'll be here waiting when you decide," I whispered into the dark. "I'm not going anywhere."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up...had to go see the Hunger Games with my 14yo son last night...again...*grin* Let me know what you think! Enjoy!**

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><p><span>Chapter 10<span>

"I was thinking Elizabeth or Vanessa are good names for your baby." This is what greeted me as I walked into the kitchen the next morning.

I paused in the doorway, not making my presence known, wanting to hear the rest of the conversation, given that I was pretty sure the two people involved had never spoken to one another before.

"I don't know Alice, they seem a bit much, especially when you pair it up with Swan-Cullen," Bella answered. "I don't want to saddle a baby with a long name that is impossible for it to live up to, you know?"

"Well, how about something simple like Molly or Emma?" Alice offered. I didn't hear Bella's response, it may not have been verbal but I did hear Alice's laugh that followed shortly thereafter. My best friend and my-, my what exactly? I couldn't call Bella my girlfriend, babymama just seemed so trashy and mother of my child so formal. She was just Bella, always had been, always would be.

"Molly is a nice name, so cheerful," I heard Mom join in. I crossed my fingers, hoping that Mom was taking our conversation from last night to heart.

"It is, but Edward should have a say too, don't you think?" Bella said and I felt a huge grin spread across my face. At that point, I decided I needed to enter the kitchen, get in on this conversation but not make it look like I had been eavesdropping, even if I had. I did my best to force the smile from my features and walked into the kitchen, pretending that I had no clue what was going on.

"Edward!" Alice called out as I walked in and she rushed over to give me a hug. I returned it, happy to see her even though we had seen one another a couple of weeks before back out East.

"Heya Alice," I greeted her. I pulled back from Alice, gave Mom a smile, then turned to look at Bella. She was staring at Alice and I, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Morning Bella," I said, earning me a grin and a head nod in response.

"We were just discussing baby names Edward," Alice announced as she returned to her spot at the counter. I walked over and stood at the end, closest to Bella but didn't close the distance. I glanced down at her stomach, seeing the round evidence of our baby and involuntarily, my hand reached out to touch it. I stopped right before I laid my hand on Bella and looked up in a panic.

"Do you mind?" I asked, nodding toward where my hand was paused. I watched as Bella bit her bottom lip then slowly shook her head. My hand resumed its forward motion until it rested upon her cloth-covered stomach and let it stay there. I felt kick under my hand and before I knew it, I was kneeling down, my face level with Bella's stomach and I started talking.

"Feisty, are ya? Good morning baby, I hope you don't give your mother a hard time today, with all that kicking. Be a good girl and we'll see you soon," I said softly, letting my hand move gently over the baby. I could feel the movements beneath my hand as the baby moved and pushed against its prison and I smiled. I looked up at Bella and found her smiling down at me, her hand resting on the side of her stomach. When she saw I was looking at her, her hand moved, grabbing mine and pulling it over to where hers had been only moments before.

"If you touch here, you can almost feel her foot trying to break out," Bella told me. Her hand held mine in place and I could feel what she was describing but I was more excited about the fact that Bella was holding my hand. I smiled again, this time directly at Bella and got one in reply.

"Is that normal?" I asked, unsure since I hadn't had much experience with the baby up to this point.

Bella nodded and let her hand fall from mine. I took it as a sign that I should remove mine as well and I rose back up, shoving my hand into my pocket, wanting to hold onto the sensation of her hand on mine for a little while longer.

"She's active, but not anything that the doctor is worried about," Bella assured me.

I nodded in relief. "When is your next appointment? Have you seen the doctor here in Forks yet?"

"Next week," Bella told me. "I'm still only going every month until the last month, then I'll have to go more frequently."

"So, names," Alice called out, reminding us that she was still present and wanting to be part of the conversation. "I kinda like Elizabeth, but Bella thinks it's too much for a baby."

I ran my hand through my hair and made it look like it was the first time I was hearing these names. "I have to agree, it's a mouthful."

"You could always give her a nickname, like Bella for Isabella," Alice said cheerfully. "What names do you like Edward?"

I frowned slightly. I hadn't thought of any baby names, didn't know I was supposed to actually and gave Alice a shrug.

"I dunno, the baby doesn't need a name for a few more months, we have time," I told her. Alice looked affronted and her mouth fell open in shock.

"You don't want to know now, so you can have things with her name on them when she's born?" Alice asked.

I shrugged and glanced over at Bella. She looked at me helplessly and I wondered how long Alice had been bugging her about the name. I loved Alice but she could be a bit much, especially if you weren't used to her. I decided diversionary tactics were in order.

"When does Jasper come home Alice?" I asked and my plan worked perfectly. Alice was off and running at the mouth about Jasper and his summer plans. While Alice continued to talk, Mom placed breakfast in front of the three of us and Alice continued to talk as she ate, amusing Bella.

"Does she ever wind down?" Bella leaned over and asked me quietly. Alice was telling Mom all about her visit to West Point to see Jasper a few weeks before the end of the semester.

"She will talk until she falls over or is distracted," I advised her. "If you want to distract her, Jasper is the perfect thing to get her off whatever topic you are tired of talking about. Of course, then you'll get tired of hearing about him, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

Bella nodded thoughtfully and returned to her breakfast. "Will you go with me to see my dad today?"

"Sure," I responded automatically. "Why?"

Bella hesitated and shrugged. "I just feel weird being there, he's acting strange around me and if you could help distract him, I can get what I need and get out of there."

"Okay, yeah, when do you want to go?" I asked, pushing my plate back.

"Whenever is good for you," Bella offered.

"Let me get rid of the short one and then we can go," I replied, nodding toward Alice. I looked over to find her and my mother watching Bella and I, their conversation apparently long over.

"I know when I'm not wanted," Alice sniffed, a big grin on her face. She hopped down from the stool she had been occupying, gave Mom a hug, then walked over to Bella and I. "If you need anything at all, I'll be happy to help however I can," Alice told Bella.

Bella grinned and nodded. "Thanks Alice, I appreciate the offer." Alice bounced in happiness, gave me a quick hug and then was gone.

"Let me my shoes on and we can go," I told Bella and walked out of the kitchen. I returned a few minutes later, ready to go to find Bella alone, still in the same spot where I had left her. She looked deep in thought and I cleared my throat to get her attention. Her head snapped up and she turned to look at me.

"Sorry about that, I seem to check out a lot lately. Pregnancy brain," she told me with a grin.

"It's fine," I assured her. Together we walked from the house out to my car and I helped Bella into the passenger's seat, then got in myself.

"No truck?" I asked, having mentally noted that her truck wasn't in the driveway.

"No, I found someone in Seattle who was an old car collector to buy Oscar," she told me. "At least he went to a good home."

I laughed, finding it amusing that we were talking about her truck like someone might talk about a puppy.

"You are welcome to drive my car, if you want," I offered, gesturing to the early 90s Volvo my parents had bought me back in high school. I hadn't upgraded to a newer car, like Emmett had last year, since all it did was sit in the driveway unless I was home for the summer. Now that I was home though, it might be time to get a new one, one that would fit a baby seat.

"I need to go car shopping but I really hate it. Jake picked Oscar out and restored it for me, I didn't really have to do anything but drive it," Bella told me, then frowned. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the source of that frown: Jacob Black, Bella's ex-boyfriend.

"I probably should look into something newer as well, now that I'll be home to drive more often. We can go together if you want," I offered, trying to get her mind off Jacob.

Bella nodded but didn't say anything, just stared out the window as we drove to her father's house. We pulled up, parking along the curb out front and when I turned off the engine and made to get out, Bella's hand on my arm stopped me.

"What is it?" I asked, looking first from her hand to her face. Her eyes were darker than normal, shinier too and when she blinked and a tear fell, I knew it was due to her crying. "What is it Bella?" My voice took on a panicked tone and she sighed and shook her head.

"Jake is here," she told me. "I haven't seen him since we broke up."

"He knows about the baby right?" I asked and Bella laughed, though it wasn't a happy one.

"Yeah, he knows," she said bitterly.

"We can come back later, once he's gone," I told her. I pulled her hand from my arm and took it between the two of mine. I rubbed it lightly, offering the little bit of comfort that I felt she would allow, even though I wanted to wrap her up in my arms and hold her tightly.

"No, I can't," she said, glancing at the house, then back at me again.

"We have all the time you want, no rush," I told her and watched as she shook her head.

"No, it has to be today, I just want to get it over with and I haven't been exactly truthful with you," Bella said hesitantly.

My hand stopped moving on hers, though I didn't release it. I looked at her, wondering what she had been lying to me about.

"What is it?" I asked cautiously, not knowing her well enough to be worried or not.

"My mother is here and I couldn't face her alone," Bella told me.

"Okay," I said, nodding a little bit. "We can get through this, right?"

Bella sighed and looked at the house once again. "She isn't exactly in favor of the baby," Bella explained. "She's, well," she hesitated.

"Look, let's just go in, face them and get out of there as quickly as we can, okay?" I told her, squeezing her hand once again. I released it and got out of the car, hoping she would follow me. When I saw she hadn't, I walked around, opening her door and pulling her from the car, leading her up the walk that led to her father's front door. I knocked once we reached the landing and didn't have to wait long before the door was wrenched open and an older version of Bella was standing in front of me. She looked first at me, then at Bella standing slightly behind me. She laughed and called out into the other occupants of the house.

"Bella's here with her bastard child and the idiot who knocked her up," she said.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Sorry so much for the delay...I could give you a spiel about life getting in the way or something just taking up all of my time, but truthfully, I wasn't inspired to write. Hopefully, I am out of that funk now and will post semi-regularly. Hope I haven't lost too many readers and if you are still around, thanks, I really appreciate it! **

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><p><span>Chapter 11<span>

I should have known the greeting was only the tip of the iceberg.

"So, you didn't run off huh?" Renee asked me, staring at me hard. "You too afraid of my girl? She threaten to ruin you or something?" Before I could answer, Renee's face lit up and she started talking again. "Oh, I got it! You're her meal ticket and getting knocked up was the easiest way for her to sponge off you. Good job girly!" Renee turned to find Bella, giving her a smile. I glanced over to find Bella grimacing back at her mother, then turning to refocus her attention on whatever Jacob needed to tell her. Before she was looking at him again, I caught her eye and raised my eyebrows in question. The moment she wanted to go, I was ready to get her out of there.

"Can't say I blame her, your parents are pretty loaded, aren't they? Town doctor and the pretty wife, two perfect kids, who wouldn't want to be part of the perfect family?" Renee laughed at her own joke, I was guessing she found it a joke and took drink from the tumbler she had in her hand. The cup was opaque but I could guess that Renee subscribed to the 'It's 5 o'clock somewhere' mentality and was celebrating the evening with those in Europe.

"Mrs Swan," I began and Renee cut me off quick.

"I am not Mrs Swan, just call me Renee or Grammy. I think I want the brat to call me Grammy," she announced. I nodded, silently telling myself that my baby would be seeing 'Grammy' as little as possible if I had anything to say about it. I glanced over at Bella again and still Jacob was talking to her. I could tell she had said very little and whatever he was saying was starting to wear her down. Her entire body was slumping against the wall, holding her up for whatever he was throwing at her.

I looked around the room, wondering if Charlie might step in, save us from the two overwhelming personalities in the room but he was missing. Hiding, I imagined. I envied and hated him equally at that moment. He got to escape but left us to fend for ourselves.

"So Edward, what are your plans for my daughter? You gonna marry her or just pay child support?" Renee penetrated my thoughts, making me focus on her once again.

"We haven't decided anything yet," I told her.

"Is my girl not good enough for you to marry? Don't want to sully the family line anymore than necessary?" Renee asked with a sneer. Whatever she was drinking was kicking in, making her get louder and ruder, though I hadn't really thought that was possible. Apparently, I was wrong.

"I will do whatever Bella wants," I explained. "If that happens to be marriage, I'll be fine with that."

"What? Bella, you're marrying him? What the hell? I just spent all this time trying to win you back and you're marrying him?" Jacob yelled, pointing to me while still looking at Bella.

"Who said? What? Edward?" Bella asked confused.

"He did, he just told your mom that he was marrying you," Jacob told her, turning this time to give me a death stare. He was intimidating, no doubt about that. He was muscular and built, two things I was not. He also had a bad reputation, a bad temper and rumors of having put someone in the hospital after a fight. I did not want to be on his radar.

"I did not," I said quickly, trying to get Bella to understand.

"Yes you did, you said you'd marry Bella," Renee chimed in gleefully. It was obvious she wanted to incite a fight between Jacob and I. Jacob growled and took a step toward me, his hands forming fists.

"Bella is mine, asshole, even if she was stupid enough to let you fuck her," Jacob told me. He took another step but before he could get closer, Bella moved to stand in front of him and that made him stop.

"That's enough Jake!" She told him. "I am not yours, how many times do I have to tell you that?"

"Bella, baby, I love you." His voice changed to a pleading tone and from the way Bella's shoulders slumped again, it was obviously a tone she had been listening to for a while. "I just want it to be you and me. We don't need him, just let him keep the baby and-," Jacob's whining was cut short by a cracking sound. Bella was shaking her hand and a red bloom was spreading across Jacob's cheek where she had smacked him. She spun around to look at me and I could see the tears in her eyes.

"Can we go now? Please?" She asked me. I jumped up from the couch and nodded. Bella nodded back and I ran to the front door, opening it right before she reached it. Bella could move when motivated.

"Bella, wait," Jacob called out, following her toward the door. I moved to exit, blocking his path and he shoved me to the side. "Move asshole," he said. I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back, making him spin toward me. I guess the momentum did it, or maybe he was just pissed off, I'm not really sure, but his fist made contact with my cheekbone, knocking my glasses off and pushing my nose to the side with a sickening crunch. Blood gushed from my nose and I grabbed the bottom of my shirt to hold against it, trying to stop the flow.

"Thata boy Jake, fight for your girl," Renee cheered from her seat in the living room.

"That's enough!" Charlie yelled, rushing from the side of the house to stand between Jacob and I. I heard another crunch and knew my glasses had been stepped on when Charlie came to intervene. "Edward, get Bella out of here. Jake, get in the house, calm down and hope that the Cullens don't press charges." Charlie grabbed Jake by the upper arm and shoved him back into the house. Charlie looked over his shoulder at where Bella was standing by my car and gave her a small sad smile. "Sorry honey, I'm so sorry." He walked into the house, closing the door behind him, leaving Bella and I alone outside.

"Can we just go?" Bella snapped at me, turning and walking the rest of the distance to the car.

"Sure, why the fuck not?" I muttered. I bent down and retrieved what was left of my glasses, putting them into my pocket. I followed the fuzzy shapes in front of me where Bella was standing and I stopped when I was next to her. She turned to look at me and I shoved the keys in her hand. "You have to drive, I can't see."

Bella finally took a look at me and gasped. "Edward? Are you okay? We should take you to the hospital," she said.

I shook my head. "No, just home. Nothing Dad can't do for me at the ER that he can't do from home."

She frowned, at least I think it was a frown and nodded. "Okay, get in." She unlocked the car, we both climbed in and quickly left the Swan house. When we arrived home, Bella halted my exit from the car and I turned to look at her. Since we were closer now, I could almost see her clearly, but there were still fuzzy parts.

"Edward, I want to-," she started and I cut her off.

"Not now," I told her. I climbed out of the car and walked into the house, where I could get fixed up before I listened to Bella's apologies. At the moment, I wasn't sure I believed them and I knew I needed a clear head before I said to her everything I wanted to after that fiasco at her father's house.

"What in the world? Carlisle, get in here!" Mom shouted when I walked in the door. "Edward, honey? Are you okay? What happened?"

"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time," I muttered, making my way to one of the kitchen stools.

"Bro, you look like you found the wrong end of a fist," Emmett said with the shake of his head.

"I did," I told him. Mom brought over a kitchen towel, wet from the sink and started to clean the blood off my face. I saw Dad rush in, then rush back out, only to return a few moments later with the first aid kit. Mom stepped aside and Dad was in my face, frowning and looking me over.

"I need to reset your nose before I do anything else. It's going to hurt," he explained. "Emmett, come over here and hold Edward's shoulders. I don't want him to move."

I closed my eyes and felt Em's hand squeeze my shoulders tight. "One...two...three," Dad said and then I heard another crunch and my face filled with pain again. I felt my jerk in response, but I barely moved, thanks to Emmett. He released me after that, patting me on the shoulder before moving away. Dad then started poking and prodding my face, looking for more broken bones.

"Esme, get an ice pack," he called out. Tape was placed across the bridge of my nose and then another towel was all I could see, this one cool and resting against my cheekbone.

"Swallow these," he said and I took the pills offered, along with the water to wash them down. I knew better than to question what Dad was doing. If I had wanted an explanation, he would have told me, like he did when he was patching up Em. Since I was squeamish, silence was better. A few more minutes, and Dad stepped away, wiping his hands onto a towel.

"You are going to bruise and your face will swell, but otherwise, you should be okay in a couple of days. If you are in pain, take something for it. Wear your glasses, not your contacts, especially with the swelling," Dad advised and I held up my ruined pair for him to see. He sighed and I saw his shoulders slump. "Do you have a spare pair?" I shook my head and he sighed. "Your mother or I will run you into Port Angeles tomorrow for a new pair. Obviously you can't drive."

"I'll take him," Bella offered, her voice coming from behind me. I turned toward the sound and saw the fuzzy outline of her in the doorway leading to the living room. "It's my fault this all happened in the first place, it's the least I can do."

I didn't say anything. I was still sorting out my feelings. I knew it wasn't Bella's fault I got punched, that was all on Jacob's shoulders, but she knew what we were getting into when we went to her father's house. She didn't tell me prior to getting there, didn't give me the option to not go, though I would have gone to support her regardless, but still, she knowingly put us in that position without telling me. It wasn't making me feel charitable toward her at the moment.

"Fine, I think I want to lay down now," I announced and slid off the stool. I slowly made my way through the kitchen, grateful that I could maneuver based on memory and not really on sight. As I approached Bella, I could see her stand up and wait for me. When I reached her, she stopped me with a hand on my arm.

"Can we talk?" She asked, her voice soft.

"Not right now, maybe later," I replied, continuing on my journey toward the stairs and ultimately my bedroom.

"Edward, I just want to-," she started. I could hear her following me.

"Bella, I just need to lay down right now," I told her.

I started up the steps and I could hear her footsteps echoing mine on the wood tread. When I reached my bedroom door, she tried again.

"Edward, please, I need to-," she pleaded.

"Bella, look, right now is not a good time. My head is pounding and so is my nose, I'm a little dizzy from walking around not being able to see and you aren't high on my list of favorite people right now. Just give me some space and we will talk later." My voice was firm, and while I didn't get loud, I knew from her response that she finally got it.

"Okay, I'm just really sorry," she whispered. I saw her blurry image move across the hall and go into her room, allowing me to finally go into mine. I closed the door behind myself, stripped out of my blood-covered clothes and crawled into bed. I needed to close my eyes and get rid of the headache right now. I would deal with everything else later.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: I'm trying to keep this rolling and update once a week or so...that being said, it will be a couple of weeks before the next chapter. I will be at Cub Scout camp next week and while I'd prefer to be home writing, I will instead be tying knots and learning CPR with 10 10 year old boys. Wish me luck!**

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><p><span>Chapter 12<span>

I opened my eyes and the room was dark. I just laid there for a moment, wondering where I was then my senses realized I was in my room. A quick glance at the clock showed it was late, or really early, depending on how you chose to look at it. I knew I wouldn't get anymore sleep, I was the type that once I woke, I was up and the growling of my stomach reminded me that I had missed dinner.

I climbed out of bed, pulled on a pair of jeans and quietly made my way down to the kitchen. Late night raids on the kitchen were more Emmett's speed, but it seemed I was here more frequently than he was, at least so far this summer. I found some leftovers that Mom had put away and after a quick round in the microwave, I grabbed a fork and prepared to eat. I headed out to the backyard to enjoy the night while I ate. I expected to be alone. Imagine my surprise when I wasn't.

"Can't sleep?" Bella asked.

"Slept too much," I explained. I shoveled a forkful of pasta into my mouth and sat down at the table. Bella was stretched out on the hammock Emmett and Dad had put in the summer before. She looked comfortable and like she had been out here for a while now. "You?"

"Sometimes I'll come out here to sleep, I think the rocking helps," she told me.

"I'll go back inside then, let you get back to sleep," I said quickly, starting to rise from the table.

"No, stay, please? Maybe we can have that talk now?" She asked hesitantly.

I sat back down and stared at the plastic bowl in front of me. Was I ready to tell her what I thought, to hear what she wanted to say? I guessed I should, but that didn't mean I wanted it to happen.

"Sure, let's talk," I sighed. I pushed the bowl away from me and leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I really want to say I'm sorry for what happened back at my father's house earlier," Bella started. "It wasn't fair for me to drag you into that, especially without warning."

"You're right, it wasn't," I agreed. My nose still hurt, my pride was hurt and I was still angry at her. The nap hadn't really changed things.

"I knew what my mother would be like and I knew Jake was there. I didn't know he would punch you though. I am so sorry about that," she said. I watched as she sat up in the hammock and look at me. Her hands were clasped tightly together and she was biting her bottom lip. As much as I really didn't like he at that moment, I really wanted to tug that lip free from her teeth using only my lips. It was a little twisted to be angry and turned on at the same time I'll admit, but I was a guy.

"So why did you do it? Why not give me some warning at least?" I asked.

"I needed you," she said quietly. "I knew I couldn't face them alone and needed you there with me."

I closed my eyes and slowly shook my head in disbelief. "Bella, you have a strange way of letting people know what you need."

"I'm not used to it," she explained.

"To what? Dealing with your family? Jake?" I asked in disbelief.

"No, in asking for help. You saw my family, you saw what I've had to deal with. A father who can rule the town as police chief but runs from confrontation at home, a mother who is outspoken, opinionated and happy to voice it to anyone within shouting distance and an ex-boyfriend to thinks of me as a possession, not a human being. I just learned to deal with it the best way I knew how," she told me. As she spoke, she moved from the hammock and over to the table. When she was finished, she sat down in the chair across from me and stared at me hard, begging me to understand, to forgive her.

"And the best way was being a doormat?" I asked bluntly. "Because that is what I saw Bella, you just taking whatever they dished out, with no defense for yourself or for me."

"I'm sorry about that," she told me again.

"I am too," I agreed. "How do I know that won't happen with the baby? That you won't defend or protect the baby around them? I refuse to let that happen to my child."

Bella looked hurt at what I said and shook her head quickly. "I promise you, the baby won't go through that. I won't let it happen."

"Forgive me if I don't believe you Bella, but I have my doubts," I told her honestly.

Her face showed the anger that was building inside her at my comment. Her cheeks flushed dark red and her eyes narrowed. Before she could get a full head of steam going though, I spoke again.

"Right now, I think it's best if you avoid them," I told her. "For the baby's sake."

She let out a harsh breath and glared at me. "The baby is fine," she told me. "If I want to see my family, I will."

"Your family causes stress on you, which causes stress on the baby, you will not hurt my baby," I told her firmly.

"Your baby? This baby is mine too and I have rights just as much as you do, more even since it's housed inside of me," she argued.

"That may be true but I'm not being a selfish spoiled brat and thinking of someone other than myself," I told her angrily.

"A brat? Spoiled? Who in the hell do you think you are Mr my-family-is-fucking-perfect Cullen? Maybe you need to look up the definition of spoiled because if anyone here at the table is spoiled, it's you!" She turned and marched into the house, only at the last minute avoiding slamming the door shut. I sighed and sank back down onto the chair. I pulled the bowl of food I had been eating toward me and played with it for a moment before shoving it away again. I wasn't hungry, I was angry and feeling a remorseful. Why couldn't we seem to get things to work? Every time I thought we had reached a good point, a point where I could see us getting along well into the future, we had a fight and went back to square one. I was tired of the ups and downs. I was really beginning to doubt it was worth it.

I made my way back into the house and poured my thoughts and feelings in the Bella files. I hadn't really added much since I had been home but the tone had changed. Those last couple of weeks at school, I had been optimistic, that I could have a happy future that included not only the baby, but Bella as well. Now, I didn't feel any of that at all. I'd be lucky if we'd be civil to one another during visits to see the baby. It was a giant step backwards when we hadn't made too much forward progress to begin with. It didn't bode well for the future.

Over the next few days, everyone in the house became aware that Bella and I were avoiding each other, but not the reasons why. I suspected Mom figured it out and probably told Dad, but Emmett was clueless and drove me insane trying to figure out what was going on.

I was in my bedroom, rereading the Bella files once again, trying to see if I could figure out a way to make things better again when a knock came at my door.

"Go away Em, I don't want to talk," I called out, my eyes not leaving the screen. I heard the door open and I rolled my eyes, then slowly turned to tell my brother to get out.

"Well, I want to talk and since I have you cornered, you'll just have to listen to me," Rosalie said. She leaned against the door frame, her arms folded over her chest and she glared at me.

"I have nothing to say to you Rose, please leave," I told her calmly though I was feeling anything but.

"I have plenty to say to you Edward, so you'll just have to listen," she announced. She stalked into the room and headed straight for me.

"How could you tell Bella those things? Stress her out? Don't you care about her? About the baby?" Rose demanded.

I rolled back from my desk slightly, turning to face her head on and argued back. "Rose, it is between Bella and I, it has nothing to do with you."

"Bella is my friend, I stick up for my friends," she said.

"Good, because Bella certainly doesn't know how to stick up for herself. Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom," I told her, standing up and waiting for her to move out of my way. "I expect you to be gone when I get back." I strode across the room and out into the hall to the bathroom. I gathered myself while I was in there, forcing myself to remain calm even though Rosalie clearly wanted to fight. She was Emmett's girl and I didn't want to fight with Em, so I would do my best to not fight with Rose.

When I returned to my room, Rosalie wasn't gone. Far from it. She had discovered what I had left open on my computer and I crossed the room quickly, slamming the top down on my laptop and staring down at her in shock.

"That was private, what gave you the right to read what was on my computer?" I asked.

Rosalie smiled up at me and shrugged. She really was something, I thought. First coming in here and yelling at me about upsetting Bella, now reading my private thoughts on my computer. She had some gall and I was going to be talking to Emmett about it, regardless if it got him upset with me or not.

"Are you going to answer me?" I demanded and Rose just smiled. She leaned back in the chair, interlacing her fingers across her stomach and looked up at me.

"I can help you win over Bella," she said simply.

"Why do you think I want you to do that?" I quickly asked in surprise.

Her eyes indicated the computer and then she looked back at me. "It's obvious from reading that you love her. She needs someone in her life who will love her. I can help you."

I stared at her for a moment, then shook my head. "No, whatever is between Bella and I is just us, no one else."

Rose laughed. "Yeah, because that is working so well for you. You need my help Edward and I want to give it to you." She rose from the chair and slowly walked from the bedroom, opening the door and stopping in the doorway to look back at me. "Think about it."


End file.
